


The Tale of the Trio: A Pirate's Lot is Not a Happy One

by Nievelion



Series: Different Tales, Different Lessons [5]
Category: Kung Fu Panda (Movies)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Betrayal, Bisexual Male Character, Class Issues, Diplomacy, Eventual Romance, F/M, Friendship, Historical Figures, Historical References, Humor, Kidnapping, Love Triangles, M/M, Multi, Pirates, Polyamory, Women Being Awesome
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-22
Updated: 2019-11-27
Packaged: 2021-02-18 03:49:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 48,738
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21521365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nievelion/pseuds/Nievelion
Summary: Crane, Mei Ling, and Wu Jia Walk the Empire to do good deeds and help Jia atone. The three travel next to Haojing (Macau) to take out the leader of a band of marauding pirates, with the aid of Portuguese colonizers,  Jiao Shang, and a couple of old friends from their days at Li Dai.
Relationships: Crane/Mei Ling (Kung Fu Panda), Jiao Shang/OC, Mei Ling & Wu Jia
Series: Different Tales, Different Lessons [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1529432
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

Gazing out the narrow window, high in the unfinished fortress's wall, toward the rising walls and roofs of Haojing that with the setting of the sun were losing their crimson and ocher luster and fading into the deepening, humid shadows of twilight, Captain Jiao Shang sighed heavily to himself. He rubbed at his sore, aching shoulder; the strange salve the local apothecary had prescribed to him for it was something of southern Guangdong make.

The gibbon, whose wheezing voice was so thickly accented that he had trouble deciphering it even though he understood Cantonese, had sworn it was made from certain exotic substances which the Sumatran tigers gathered and refined from their own bodies, and thus was perfect for anything which ailed the Amur. He wasn't so sure, though he couldn't deny it had given him astounding results...still, the long hours of hard labor he'd been unexpectedly pressed into meant that any relief from his aches and pains was only temporary.

The pirates had come in quickly, there was no question of that, and it had been very lucky for the island port that any contingents of the Imperial army had been nearby at all to repel the attacks. Unfortunately the military response had been rather haphazardly improvised, seeing as there was little to work with—the majority of the empire's troops were either in the west involved in some campaign he knew little of (although the hushed, secretive tones employed when discussing it told him it was something worrisome, and which he was most likely better off not knowing about), or in the north facing the Manchurians. The pirates were also cunning, resourceful, and determined, their leader someone he had yet to meet in battle but who seemed possessed of such intelligence, ferocity, and dedication to a goal that he was forced to admire them...and grow increasingly concerned that this was a fight that could not be won.

But all of this was overshadowed by the fact that these raids, this veritable invasion, should still not have been as successful as they were, not with the weaponry and resources the Han had at their disposal, the greater numbers and highly defensible locations in the city and along the various shorelines. No...things were as bad as they were because there had definitely been inside help, and he was unsettled not only by such a fact at all but also by just how much of it there was.

Shang sighed again. How long had they been here now, suffering beneath this tropical sun that was murder on his thick Amur fur? How many skirmishes and raids, invasions and outright battles, had there been? He'd lost track. He knew it had to have been at least a month's time, at least a good half a dozen sorties. The latter had varied from small parties of darkly-clad but wickedly-armed bandits sneaking through the city's streets to rob warehouses, stores, and even the local governor's treasury to an entire flotilla of junks and other swift, deadly ships swooping down on the docks, the palaces of the nobles that lined the island's beaches, and the merchants' manor houses.

For the most part these attacks seemed focused on plunder, naturally, but there was also a decided bent toward causing chaos, anarchy, and rebellion—whether by planting ideas of independence and self-sufficiency, free from the control of the Emperor, or simply by fostering a climate of uncertainty, discontent, and lawlessness where it was every man for himself.

What was even worse, however, was that while obviously the attacks on their shops and homes did not endear the pirates to the city's citizens, a large number of the raids upon palaces and manor houses had met with little to no interference. Sometimes the local constabulary did not even show up, or if they did they put up only token resistance; other times they'd even joined in on the looting!

And in still other cases, whether by means of suspiciously undefended watchposts, gates left open which should not have been, docks and harbors left with their sea barriers down, or impossibly precise assaults which had taken advantage of hidden weak points and resulted in only certain riches being stolen, it was clear someone had been supplying the pirates with assistance and information.

The tiger didn't know if the pirates had somehow rallied the people of Haojing directly against their northern overlords, or if they were simply so resentful of the rich and elite that they were willing on their own to help rob them (or look the other way as it happened). But if the rumors he and his superiors had heard were true, the leader of the pirates was intensely charismatic and could have pulled off such a coup...and he had to unhappily admit, after speaking with some locals and witnessing their overall attitudes and actions, that it probably would not have taken much to convince many of them to rebel. After all, as his father had often reminded him... "The sky is big, and the Emperor is far away."

In any event, it had gotten to the point that between the numerous incursions and the fact most locals were, if not outright hostile to Imperial forces, at least wary of taking sides and putting themselves in the crossfire, the army had had no real place to hole up, take shelter, or be concealed. And so they'd been forced to begin construction on this fort—a plan the governor had devised some time ago, with Chen's approval, but which there had never seemed to be time, money, or supplies for until this moment.

With the governor holed up in his palace (understandably so, but also rather convenient, Shang thought bitterly) and all able-bodied men conscripted into one militia or another, it had been left to the soldiers themselves to do the hard labor. Not that they didn't have the strength for it, or the intelligence to follow the architectural designs which had been drafted months ago, and it was rather critical they have the protection for this siege. But adding this to the stress of the whole affair, the increasingly sluggish heat of summer, and so much thick, sweaty fur, and...well, medicinal treatments were the least of what was needed. He had it on good authority that a number of the men had passed out from sunstroke, and those who hadn't (thanks to frequent visits to cool baths and water-soaked headcloths made from their own shirts) were still on edge from all the fighting, or in need of treatment for their injuries.

They were tired; they were sore; and morale was beginning to sink to an all-time low. They laughed less, joked barely at all, their voices fallen to husky whispers and barely-audible murmurs...and with one troop after another, he saw the same thing in their dull, vacuous eyes: despair, confusion, worry. Even the righteous anger and sullen fury at having so many hands turned against them or not raised to offer aid, at being so far from the capital and beyond the reach of reinforcements or relief until it would be too late, could not sustain them. And, as petty and ridiculous as it might seem, they didn't even have any way to get release, save each other, something which Shang himself was beginning to admit looked more and more attractive with each passing day... _Yup_ , he thought wearily. _I need to get laid. I'm my Dad's son, all right_.

At this point, there seemed only one recourse, aside from surrender to the pirate's forces or sailing back to Beijing (which amounted to the same thing): to accept the help of those foreigners from far across the sea and around the world, the ones whose fleet had just so happened to be in China's southern waters when the sacking of Haojing had begun and thus in the perfect position to fend it off until the Emperor's platoon had arrived.

Shang snarled under his breath, fists clenching, claws unsheathing as his eyes tracked unerringly down the fortress walls to where the nearest set of vessels sailed the waters of the Zhu Jiang—vigilant, proud, and strong as the Han currently were not...their flags raised high but marked with symbols that had nothing to do with the Son of Heaven or his divinely-decreed empire. Not the peacock of the Ming, nor the dragon and the phoenix, but a shield of red with yellow towers and smaller blue shields within, surmounted by a crown; and sometimes accompanied by a red-and-white cross.

They claimed they were here only for trade, to establish peaceful relations between their king and Chen, so that their people could exchange knowledge, goods, and wealth to the benefit of both, but Shang was extremely suspicious. Even if this were the whole and utter truth (hardly a certain thing, considering the number of dissembling conquerors and barbaric hordes who had before posed as 'harmless' merchants peddling their wares), he knew from experience—both his own and that related to him by Chen and his closest advisors—that these travelers and traders who had come to China by land and water had more often than anything sought only to control. To take all that was not theirs, absorb it, claim it, eradicate its uniqueness and strength and nobility until it had all been crushed and used and wrung out...or else simply subsumed into their own lands and cultures.

The Lord of Ten Thousand Years was more open and forgiving than past emperors—very intrigued and fascinated by this strange land, Europe, and its many kingdoms and peoples; very convinced of the value to be found in interacting with and learning from these outsiders. But even he knew better than to trust at face value whatever they told him, to believe their assurances of harmlessness and tranquil relations. And indeed, there had been suggestions, rumors, even evidence that this particular group—what did they call themselves in those strange accents? Portuguese?—had not been comporting themselves well with the sultans of the southern islands, or in the land of India to the west.

Yet he couldn't deny their presence here, their assistance with the building of the fort, and their defense of the harbor and sea had been timely, skillful, and needed...a boon that had granted them even a small reprieve from the fighting and given them a chance to recover, take stock, and strategize. Whatever their other motives and intentions, their aid in the battles had been brave, relentless, and loyal, on several occasions quite decisive and critical. Which meant, whether he liked it or not, his superiors might well agree to a more permanent alliance, or carry word back to Beijing of their exploits so that Chen could make the ruling official...

As if his thoughts had summoned him, he suddenly heard hurried footsteps in the corridor outside, the one which led to the open steps from the battlements down to the main dock at the southeastern tip of the island, and then he picked up a very familiar scent on the air—and despite himself, Shang turned toward the door with a smile. Of course with the facilities being what they were, even those who were able to bathe often still ended up rather fragrant in a short time, but it wasn't the strength of the aroma that let him recognize it.

In a few more moments the man appeared—barely visible even to the Amur's enhanced sight in the cloaking shadows of approaching night that were filling the chamber, seeing as his fur was the deepest, richest ebony he had ever seen. It didn't take his eyes long to adjust, however, and the soldier's armor marked his figure, gleaming and shining in the places where constant combat and a lack of time for polishing and buffing hadn't left it dirty, battered, and scarred.

The panther, well-muscled and thickly-built to the point that the straps of his armor were stretched to their limits in a number of places, carried his helm beneath one arm, and his face which of late had actually begun to show his age (though he was only a few years older than Shang) suddenly looked less haggard. In fact his golden eyes were bright, and a look of excitement and deep relief was on his muzzle. " _Duizhu! Duizhu_ Jiao, sir!"

For a moment Shang had to bite back an incongruous but well-needed laugh. This man was his superior (albeit only by one rank), and they had served together for...what, two years now? Three? And yet he still treated him as if he were the elder and of higher position. After all his skill in battle and tactics, the book learning he'd obtained at the Li Dai Academy which had earned him the notice of both the Emperor and General Jiao Shen, he was still endearingly shy, self-effacing, and oddly gentle. Not that he wasn't fierce on the battlefield when needed to be...or fully a man in every other way that counted...

The tiger found himself staring rather openly below the black-furred cat's beltline and had to quickly wrench his gaze away; the two of them had shared a bed before, and there was nothing shameful or inappropriate about such things—they only made warriors who fought, sweated, and bled together on a regular basis have an even stronger bond. But he was letting his anxiousness get the better of him, now was not the time. "Liang? What's going on, what's happened?"

The Lieutenant Colonel didn't comment on his lapse in military formality, but then he never had. "There's something you need to see—I mean, someone you need to meet. We, well, we've received some unexpected help."

Shang blinked. "Don't tell me one of our messages made it back to the capital in time! Did we get another platoon? A fleet? Something, anything?" _Get control_ _of_ _yourself, you idiot!_

Cheng Liang shrugged apologetically and shook his head, yet the excitement didn't leave his face either. "No. I don't know, maybe. But this is something else. I know it may not seem like much, there's just three of them—"

_Three?!_ Shang's face fell, and he fought the urge to throw down his own helmet and let out a snarling roar.

"—but have you ever heard of the Valley of Peace?"

The Amur froze, his anger and disgust in turn evaporating into stunned recognition, and awe. "Of course I have, everyone who knows even the slightest bit about kung fu knows about it!" He paused. "Plus, my baby brother moved there a few months ago. Wait...are you telling me...?"

His superior grinned wide, teeth gleaming brilliant white between his black lips. "No, I don't think anybody there sent them, if that's what you mean—that's not what they said, anyway. But they are from there, and they do want to help. Even three kung fu masters is a blessing from the gods, don't you think? Especially when one of them is a master of the thousand scrolls." The panther squared his shoulders and stood up straight, hero worship quite clear on his countenance.

Shang flinched; although there were actually several warriors who could lay claim to that title these days, there was only one he could think of who would elicit that sort of response from Liang, and who also hailed from the Valley of Peace. _That's it. We're saved. Over and done with, the ladies are singin' in the Pear Garden. Who cares about the Portuguese? They can go on back home, stuff their holds with goods from every merchant house at the docks if they have to. We don't need them. We don't need anybody, my men can all go rest up and let off some steam in the baths. The pirates aren't gonna know what hit 'em. Tai Lung. We've got **Tai Lung**!_

Hurriedly, before the other feline soldier could say anything more, the tiger was pushing past him and rushing down the corridor. He could hear Liang following him after a few moments, chuckling his trademark laugh that had always sent a certain shiver down his spine, but all he could focus on was what lay ahead, what he would see when he came out on the parapets...

When he did emerge out into the gathering night, though (which was still far too warm for his liking, damnit!), what he saw was not at all what he expected to see. Gazing down over the unfinished battlements toward the water, he spied a ship approaching the pier from the east—it could have just come from that quarter of the city, but the design and make of the vessel looked more like it hailed from Shanghai—but even as he watched with bated breath for it to pull up to the slip...for the spotted, hulking form of a great warrior to emerge onto the dock...a voice nearby cried out, making him look up.

Something in the tone of that voice, and in the way the soldier sharply pointed out to sea, made him afraid for a sick moment that another district of Haojing had been set aflame, as the pirates had done on two other recent occasions. The chill of that fear left him, though...turning instead to wonder as he lifted his eyes to the sky.

Although twilight had nearly turned to full evening around them, there were still a few dying rays of sunlight spearing across the water from the west, setting both it and the underbellies of the clouds aflame—and they also caught something much brighter, descending through the humid air toward Shang's position. Something thin, long, and narrow, but extremely large, with a wingspan extending far wider than his own arms could reach. Something topped by a conical _dou li_. Something that let out a friendly hail from above as the sunlight gleamed and shone on his white guard feathers until he briefly seemed like a celestial body himself.

Letting his broad, striped shoulders relax as a great deal of tension abruptly fled their knotted muscles, the eldest of the Jiao Clan smiled for the first time in weeks. Now he knew the gods were with them.

* * *

As she disembarked from the gangplank leading up to the deck of the Shanghai junk and stepped onto the fortress's dock, Mei Ling glanced up toward the heights of the island in time to catch a glimpse of Crane's feathers sparkling in the light of the setting sun as he flew to meet whomever the commander of this garrison was, and sighed. Despite the many opportunities for getting out of the cooped-up cabins and winging through the skies on their journey south (limited somewhat by the summer storms which had sprung up twice along the way—which had not only been stressful for confining the avian but also having kept him and Jia in close quarters with a decidedly seasick mountain cat...), she didn't blame Crane for taking to the air even before the ship had fully stopped moving. Not after what they had learned, what had led to their trip in the first place, and which the waterfowl would want to obtain as much detail about as soon as possible.

She rubbed at her temples, in the same manner as she had done aboard ship, the way Master Hu had taught her to use pressure points. But this time it wasn't to supplement the herbs she'd taken for her stomach. The last three months in Shanghai had been surprisingly fun, once the matter of Lord Kang had been dealt with so satisfactorily—she and Jia had gotten to do all the shopping they'd planned for and more, Crane had visited the monastery, temples, and gardens, and she'd had plenty of time to renew bonds with Yan-Yan (and do all she could to annoy Chen).

But it was while visiting Longhua Temple, in fact, that the avian kung fu master had heard the tales of what was happening far to the south, from those who had managed to flee Haojing ahead of (or just after) the pirates' raids and taken refuge with the monks. And of course it was exactly this sort of thing they had been intending to combat when they began their trip.

What the three of them could do alone against a crew of bloodthirsty, amoral pirates and their diabolically clever captain, she didn't know—the refugees had spoken of Imperial soldiers being involved in the defense of the city, but she had no illusions it would not be she and her companions who would have to deal the decisive blows to save Haojing. Jia, however, had been fiercely insistent, and Crane only slightly less so.

So she had acquiesced—and with time being of the essence, with so much subtropical jungle and several mountain ranges between them and the distant port that would hinder their speed of travel until they arrived too late...arrived, she was afraid, to visions of Haojing burning to the ground while the pirates' ships sailed away with all of its goods and riches, its populace driven to homeless flight and starvation if not the worse prospects of imprisonment, slavery, or death...she had agreed to procure the first fastest ship they could find at Shanghai's docks.

Mei turned and glanced at her half-sister and was not surprised to see her watching Crane as well, and with the same uncharacteristically resolute expression she'd worn for the past week and a half. Jia had explained it, succinctly but with passion, when asked at the start: it was not that she had a particular attachment to Haojing (although she did acknowledge its key status in the empire's trade), she just was tired of standing by and doing nothing, of being unable to act as her conscience dictated, of having to obey Xiu's cruel, selfish commands and only intervening when great amounts of money (or the chance to do the most harm) were involved. She wanted to do good, she wanted to help those in need, and what they had done in Shanghai wasn't nearly enough. She needed to keep doing it, to atone, for the rest of her life.

The mountain cat shook her head a little, smiling sadly at the snow leopardess. _Oh, sis...how could I ever think you killed Father? You're not the only one who's going to be atoning for a good long time to come…_

Her thoughts were interrupted by Jia's expression changing to one of eagerness and an odd amusement. "C'mon, Mei Mei. I think Jien's made contact and ready to introduce us." She nodded over her half-sister's shoulder.

Glancing back that way again, she spied Crane had alit atop one of the unfinished fortress's battlements and was standing beside a soldier—she couldn't identify much about him at this distance despite her keen eyesight, certainly not his rank, but she could tell he was big and a tiger—waving his wings at them to get their attention. Her smile became wider, more relaxed and fond. _I stand by what I said, Jien: you're such a doofus. Maybe not as obviously as Po is, but you are. And I love you for it._

By the time the two felines had climbed the steps leading up from the docks (some of which showed, by how uneven and crudely-shaped they were, that they'd been erected and carved rather hastily), the tiger was waiting for them along with Crane at the top of the stairs, and Mei Ling was startled...and, she had to admit, privately aroused...at just how big the fellow was. To be honest, he was the biggest Amur tiger she had ever met—and that included the Emperor!—with the body of a prized fighter; although he wore the Imperial uniform (and wore it well) with the accompanying armor of a captain, she could easily see thanks to the lack of sleeves that his shoulders were firm and strong, arms thick with the muscles a true warrior was expected to have.

Standing straight and tall like the soldier he was (as big as Tai Lung, perhaps even a little taller), he possessed fur of so light an orange he looked nearly cream-colored, and his stripes looked almost brown instead of the sharp umber and black of Master Tigress's coat. His sharp eyes, so vibrantly green in the growing darkness it was uncanny, looked back at her while his head cocked to the side in a questioning nature. He was stunning, simply stunning, there was no other way to describe him, and gazing into his eyes she could tell that beneath his imposing and perhaps dangerous exterior beat the heart of a calm and level-headed male.

Mei Ling had to stifle a rather inappropriate giggle at her own thoughts; apparently all those romance novels of Viper's she'd read back in the Valley had been rubbing off on her. And if someone like this came along, who actually justified their descriptions, maybe she needed to read more of them...

She was snapped out of her reverie by the clearing of a throat, and then a deep, smooth, velvety voice spoke—its attractiveness marred somewhat by the confusion in it. "Uh...no offense, Miss, I'm sure you're a phenomenal fighter and an asset in any battle, but...why aren't you Tai Lung? Didn't he come with you?" He peered anxiously behind her down the steps.

The mountain cat blinked; _that_ was a new one. While she had, sometimes to her resentment and chagrin but usually with careful patience, had to explain to those she encountered in her travels that yes, she (a woman) had matched and equaled Tai Lung's feat, she had never actually been confused for the snow leopard. What with her species, and him having been locked up in Chorh-Gom for twenty years and all. Why would this tiger think...?

Before she could in some exasperation explain that the snow leopard was not with them but was back in the Valley of Peace as master of the Jade Palace, another soldier's figure appeared from within the fort, a tall panther almost as muscular as his comrade was—the same one she had sent ahead with a message about their arrival as soon as their ship was docking. And while the look on his face was sheepish and embarrassed, he still managed to laugh at the looks on both felines' faces. "Uh...sir? I'm sorry, but I never said Tai Lung was here. I just said _a_ master of the thousand scrolls."

For several moments the tiger looked even more confused and flustered, and she clearly could catch disappointment in his green eyes too. But then what the panther said seemed to sink in the rest of the way, and after widening his eyes he turned back to her—and his profuse apologies couldn't escape his lips fast enough. "Oh...oh! I am so sorry, Miss! I didn't mean...no insult was intended...it's just, I thought, _Tai Lung_ , and...I'm sure you're a great fighter in your own right…" Even in the night's darkness she could see how flaming red his cheeks were, and she felt her disapproving, sardonic gaze soften; he truly had meant no harm, it was only a misunderstanding, and he really was rather adorable with his bumbling. And he was still gorgeous.

Seeming to find some secure purchase for his thoughts, he shook his head, his voice firming. "You really do know all one thousand, too?"

"Yes. Yes, I do." She managed a smile at last, one that became more real as she saw the heartfelt relief on his face. "My name is Mei Ling."

Now his jaw dropped for an entirely different reason. "Wait, I've heard of you! Oh, thank the gods, with your help there's no way we can fail now." Nodding decisively to himself, he blushed again and then saluted. "Where are my manners? I'm Captain Jiao Shang. Welcome to Haojing...I only wish the circumstances could be happier."

It was her turn to stare; while something about his facial features had seemed maddeningly familiar to her, that name was setting off even more gongs in her head. "I...forgive me, but it feels like I should know you, too."

The tiger opened his mouth to reply, and she could hear Crane's wings rustle as if he, too, were preparing to speak. But instead another deep voice, this one wry, kind, and warm even as it held an unmistakable air of authority, interrupted them. "You should, considering who his father is. And although I've changed much since you last saw me, you should know who I am as well."

Mei's eyes shifted their gaze to the left—and now it was her mouth that dropped open a bit. _Is all this army so huge...and handsome?_ she wondered. _If so, it's_ _hard to believe they even need any help at all in saving Haojing!_ What she beheld was now the biggest _fox_ she'd ever laid eyes on. Although shorter than Captain Shang by a good four inches, he more than made up for it in breadth and muscle mass, particularly in his barrel chest—which was completely bared, seeing as he wore only a sarong tied around his waist. His legs and arms were trunk-like, while both the latter and his chest bore a number of marks of previous injuries in battle, permanently marring the growth pattern of his fur there, which was a shame seeing as its color was deep and beautiful. His blocky face was inscrutable but very kind and gentle, yet she sensed it could change as quickly as the weather in the mountains, and he nevertheless radiated command and intelligence.

Steeling herself and regaining her senses, as well as being quite cognizant that she was now a taken woman with the greatest mate that was to be found on the face of the earth, she suddenly noticed the other side of the parapet had been conspicuously silent for far too long. When she glanced at Jia, she discovered she wasn't the only one lustily admiring the virile men they'd suddenly found themselves in the company of. In point of fact she was quite certain her half-sister would be having a "wardrobe malfunction" if she were male, and the panther was looking on just as hungrily.

Even Shang seemed to be adjusting himself imperceptibly, although he otherwise looked away uncomfortably. Speculatively she wondered if, perhaps without even being conscious of it, Shang had been hoping for Tai Lung's arrival for more than one reason. She had to give him credit (and stones) if he truly intended to try and seduce that marvelous, but deadly dangerous, cat—especially if he was willing to risk the snow leopard's touchy pride and volatile temper to find out if he'd even welcome such advances. _Not to mention Tigress!_

"Forgive my appearance," the fox said, again breaking into her thoughts. "My trousers were...damaged during construction of a wall, and I only had time to throw this on before coming out here," he said decorously with a slight bow of his head to them.

Finally snapped out of his flustered silence, Shang crossed his arms over his armored chest and smirked. "Really? That the best you can come up with to justify how ya like showing off? Or are you starting to go native?"

"Quiet, you." His tail, a massive expanse of fluffy fur that made Mei wonder how he managed to be swift and dexterous in battle, swung up and to the side almost as if it had a mind of its own, swatting Shang in the face so that he had to splutter to get the hairs out of his mouth. As if nothing untoward had happened, the fox smiled at her—and like Shang's face, that expression was so familiar she was ready to scream. "Now, what do I have to do to—ah." The vulpine paused, then winked with deliberate, exaggerated care, his muzzle twisting with a mischievous smirk, and after a moment of concentration—as if he'd had to consciously remember how to do it—one of his ears bent down in a lopsided fold.

The mountain cat stared. " _Ji Tao?!_ "

"In the flesh. Or fur, rather." And he opened his arms to her.

Suddenly they were embracing, and even though she could hear Jia giggling madly behind her and strange strangled sounds from Shang's direction which suggested he was more befuddled than ever, all she could spare attention for her was her old classmate. Squeezing his broad back and burying her face in his musky chest fur, she cried out, "I can't believe it! I knew you'd gone up in the world...in fact I was just telling Jia all about you not too long ago...but I never thought I'd see you again so soon! And...and... _look_ at you!"

Tao chuckled, and despite the rumbling depth of his voice and his greater age, there was an affection in it and a brightness in his warm brown eyes (almost the same shade as her own) that made him look years younger—the same as he'd had all those years ago at Li Dai. "Even we class clowns have to grow up someday, Mei," he teased. "And it's not as if I didn't have good teachers. Or role models in my class. Or inspirations for my training." She realized after a few moments what that last sentence had been referencing, and she had to admit he was right—the way he looked now, he wasn't much different in build than Tai Lung himself.

But speaking of classmates... Turning her head to stare at the panther soldier, Mei Ling blinked anew and smiled even wider. "Then this has to be Liang."

Despite his new-and-improved build, the black-furred cat abruptly seemed even more shy and tongue-tied than when she'd known him, ready to melt right through the stones of the battlement. "H-hello, Mei. I...didn't think you'd recognized me. It's so good to see you again!"

"Well," the Amur spoke up faintly, "now I know why you looked like your idol was here when you said we were getting help from a master of the thousand scrolls."

"Of course!" Liang said with surprising vehemence and determination. "She was always the best in our class—no offense, Jien," and here he bowed deferentially to Crane, "and you're right in what you said: with her on our side, there's no way we can fail now."

While the mountain cat was glowing with this high praise (even as privately she was becoming more and more worried that they were pinning far too many hopes on her arrival, and expecting miracles of her she couldn't achieve), Tao shot a sardonic look at the tiger. "Don't pretend you weren't just as excited once you found out who'd come to join our cause, and what she knew." He paused, then added casually, "Or that you weren't salivating over her like every boy in our class did."

Shang froze, his fur puffing up rather comically, and somehow the noise that came from his muzzle sounded more like a kitten's high-pitched mew; she'd never have believed a man so large and masculine could make such a sound, if she hadn't heard from Po all about Tai Lung doing exactly that during their battle for the Dragon Scroll. (Not that she blamed the snow leopard; she'd had her own tail crushed, squeezed, or otherwise damaged in battle, both accidentally and deliberately, and it _hurt_.)

While everyone (even Liang) was laughing at the tiger, Tao seemed to warm up to his subject. "It's true, no one could ever stop raving about our Mei's beauty—Jien, I still have to hand it to you for managing to catch her eye." He bowed to Crane, who to the mountain cat's eye seemed caught somewhere between extreme displeasure and humble gratitude. "So it doesn't surprise me in the least that our Shang here would be the latest in line."

"What do you mean?" For the first time tearing her eyes away from the burly fox, Jia glanced appraisingly at Shang, who still looked as if he'd been trapped and pinned with no way to escape.

"You mean he didn't tell you? Or start putting the moves on you even before he'd opened his mouth?" Tao was laughing incredulously. "Shang, buddy, you're losing your touch. This one," and he jerked a thumb over his shoulder, "can't keep it in his pants if his life depended on it. And I have it on pretty good authority that isn't the only way he's been, ah, sharing the wealth around the empire."

Finally finding his voice again, the Amur glared flatly, those green eyes shining dangerously between slitted lids. "Tao...so help me..."

The fox eyed him candidly. "If you didn't want everyone to know about it, you should've been more circumspect about it. Especially when you went to ask the Emperor for a raise, so you could pay for all their upkeep." The bantering jocularity faded somewhat from his voice, replaced by something Mei couldn't put her finger on—admiration? Jealousy? Curiosity? "What Lover Boy over there won't tell you, because he's too embarrassed, is that thanks to his suave way with the ladies, and just how many conquests he's made, there are scads of little Shangs all across the empire. Each one more cute and adorable than he is." If he'd been standing closer to the tiger, she was certain he'd have pinched his cheek!

Said cheek was now even more aflame than when the soldier had made his faux pas with Mei. In a very diffident, stilted tone, he said, "Please, sir. Can't you leave me _some_ dignity?"

"You mean you ever had that?" Tao drawled. "If so, I think you lost it along with your virginity, at age twelve, wasn't it? How many little ones do you have now, again?"

A very long pause, and then Shang seemed to admit defeat. Shoulders slumping, he muttered, "I lost count at twenty."

There was another silence, and then Mei turned to Liang, the only one she trusted at this point to be completely open and not have a teasing agenda in all this. "Is he serious?"

The panther was rubbing at the back of his neck, and now he was the bashful one (not that that was anything new). "Um, well...I don't have any personal knowledge myself, but...rumors of his, um, prowess are, uh, legendary amongst the women who knew him..."

"And the men," Tao put in. "Can't forget them."

Mei stared at him.

"I'm kidding," the fox grinned, although there was an odd catch in his voice that made her wonder.

"Awwww!" Jia cut in with a bright expression. "Just think of all those adorable little Shangs mewing sweetly and chasing their daddy's tail. Cute!" She turned to her half-sister, eyes alight with twinkling mischief. "Hey, doesn't it make you think of Tai Lung when he visits the orphanage, where he lets all the cubs surge over him like a big toy?" As she glanced back the tiger's way, there was definitely a kindled interest in her violet gaze; while the soldier's beefy physique and overall manliness had been enough to attract her, this other side of him seemed to have raised even more desire on her part.

Mei Ling thought back to the tales both Po and Tigress had told of just such ventures, and she'd gotten to witness a few herself, during the winter months they'd been staying in the Valley. "My sister has a soft spot for big men who are good with children," Mei Ling explained with a smile...even as she recalled bittersweetly the first sight she remembered of her own father, and how much she had loved him.

Meanwhile, Shang shook his head, drew himself up to his full height, and coughed peremptorily, his expression resolute. With a start, Mei finally recognized where she'd seen eyes like that, those facial features, that set jaw, and that pattern of stripes—in the Valley of Peace, not long before they'd left. Tao's comment about the Amur's father, and the tiger's last name, also suddenly clicked in her mind. _Of course. He's Dalang's brother! And son of **the** Jiao Shen!_

Before she could speak of this, however, the captain spoke up. " _If_ you're done humiliating me now," he said stiffly, "let me put an end to this by pointing out that whatever else can be said about me, I've always done right by my kids, and the Emperor has done all he can to help me do that. I never married any of their mothers—not because I don't want to be tied down," and here he cut a glare to silence Tao, "but because I can't pick just one, and I don't want to put any of them through the pain and grief of losing me. Maybe when I'm retired, or in a less dangerous and more stable post."

He paused, then puffed out his chest, while Mei regarded him warmly; he really was a caring and honorable man, his heart a perfect match to his handsome exterior. "I'm damn proud of my oldest boy, though. Hu Quon. Just graduated from the academy a couple years ago and he's already a rising star in the Imperial prefecture's special forces division."

A new silence settled over the night-draped parapet, the growing shadows now seeming far too appropriate, and when Jia spoke, all of the humor, happiness, and giddy excitement had left her voice. "Undercover?" she asked bleakly.

Mei Ling felt a cold knot form in her stomach and swiftly looked back to Shang. The tiger was regarding her half-sister with new eyes. "Yup," he said succinctly.

"Well, shit." Despite the forced lightness of her tone, Jia's shoulders had slumped.

Tao was looking at the snow leopardess differently, too, and after another moment recognition appeared on his face. "Oh... _oh_. I thought you looked familiar. Seems this is a reunion for just about everybody, isn't it?" His tone, too, was off-handed and without rancor, but Jia reacted as if he had snarled the words.

Flinching, she wrung her clasped paws together, glanced away, then looked back with a tightness to her features. Her voice was very small, and sad. "Do I get a head-start, or are you going to clap me in irons right now?"

Before either Mei or Crane could intervene, the fox was at Jia's side. All playfulness and banter gone, he instead took her paws in his and gazed down at her earnestly—his face mournful, but his voice warm. "I'm not going to do anything of the sort. I always knew you were under your sister's thumb, we all did. Whatever crimes you committed, it was at her behest, not yours. As far as I'm concerned, you're innocent—and a great warrior to have on our side for what's to come."

"Besides," Liang spoke up without warning, "we heard about what happened in the Valley. And we already got the notice from the Emperor about your pardon."

Jia jerked her head up to stare at the panther, her glumness gone, then turned back to shoot an accusing glare at Tao. "If you already knew, then why—?"

"So you'd know," the big vulpine said smoothly, "that I trust you and believe in you, and I don't just need the law or a superior to tell me it's all right to do so." He smiled fondly. "We stand by our own, Wu Jia. And whatever you or anyone else thinks to the contrary, you were always among the best and brightest at Li Dai."

The ex-assassin had tears in her eyes now, looking very much as she had when she'd been reunited with Xu Mei, or when Mei herself had forgiven and defended her. "Really? Really, truly?" Her gaze flicked back to the stoic Shang. "But what about your son...?"

For a few moments more the tiger remained impassive; then he broke out in a grin. "Yeah, he met you all right. When he was infiltrating that gang of thieves at the Bandit Inn. And aside from his reports to his superiors, he made sure to write me too. Told me all about how good you were in bed. _And_ that he was convinced you weren't responsible for your actions. You didn't know it, but Quon's recommendation that you'd be a loyal fighter and protector if not for your sister Xiu was one of the pieces of evidence Chen considered when he pardoned you."

"Oh." Jia's voice was still quiet, but there didn't seem more to say anyway.

Not that that stopped Mei Ling. One paw placed on her hip, she smirked with a certain vicious coldness that would tell anyone who didn't know her she was indeed related to Jia's clan. "Right in one. And she _did_ do away with Xiu, too. Well, she isn't dead, more's the pity, and Jia had help. But yeah, dagger right to the kidney. I saw it all. It was delicious. Karmic, even." A vision of Wu Xuan, collapsed in an inert heap in the snow, Jia's dagger protruding from the same spot in his back while clotting blood congealed around it, flashed through her mind.

Liang whistled, soft and low. "Impressive. It seems she underestimated you, and your skills, in many ways, Jia."

Tao chuckled. "And if we needed any more proof that your slate is wiped clean, there it is."

"That's right!" Wanting to give her half-sister more of the spotlight, and this time of a positive and amusing bent to put all that suffering and darkness behind them, Mei put an arm around her and squeezed her tightly. "And don't you underestimate my sister, either. After all, she's the master of the Exploding Cactus Maneuver. Tai Lung and I have plans to codify it."

"Don't get her started on kung fu scroll codification," Jia added automatically, before any questions could be asked. She rolled her eyes. "She and Tai Lung can carry on discussing them in details for hours, and none of us can understand half of what they're saying."

For a moment everyone was silent again in the tropical night's muggy shadows. Then Liang said matter-of-factly, "I think, _Jinzhou_ , that you forgot to mention Jia was also the strangest one in our class at Li Dai."

The tension broke as all of them burst into a round of much-needed laughter.

After it had died down, and everyone was looking around at each other more companionably, Mei was about to suggest they all go inside, find a cool place to sit down, have a filling supper, and catch up on their years apart. But then Crane, whom she knew had to have been intensely uncomfortable during all the teasing and sexual bantering between Tao, Shang, and Jia, not to mention the sudden scrutiny the former Wu Sister had been subjected to afterward, spoke for the first time since they'd arrived from the ship.

"I truly am glad to see you two again...it's as you said, Li Dai's finest together again after all these years. And I'm also pleased to make your acquaintance, Captain Shang. But don't you think you should address what brought us here? The captain had started telling me about it when the rest of you arrived..."

The mountain cat wished they could have kept on with their relaxed, casual interactions, but she understood why her Jien wanted to get down to business. And time was of the essence after all. Still, it was a bit saddening to see their fox friend also assume a rigid, military posture, all semblance of joking, informality, and amiability leaving him in favor of a grim seriousness she'd never seen from him before...as well as a rather despairing set to his shoulders, as if they were resuming a burden he did not know how to handle. "Yes. Yes, of course. Come right this way, I'll find you some quarters...and tell you all just what you're up against."

* * *

Inside, out of the still-oppressive heat which faded only reluctantly even after the sun had set, and surrounded by the extremely thick layers of stone which composed the already-impregnable walls of the fortress—keeping out not only the missiles and weapons of besiegers but also the sun's baking rays—things were far more comfortable, at least physically. The rooms were rather austere and simplistic in their furnishings, where they had any at all—Mei rather doubted a place intended to garrison soldiers and their gear of war would ever be exactly welcoming and artistically decorated, but the utter emptiness and lack of amenities in room after room suggested that with the place having only been just built and still under construction, there had yet to be time or inclination to add what few finishing touches it might later have to soften its forbidding severity.

What it did have, though, was plenty of cooling shadows, and while the worry and distress in Tao and his men was quite troubling—enough that when added to the stories Crane had heard in Shanghai it kept Mei from feeling completely at ease regardless their environment—she at least was able to let out a small sigh when the fox led them to a chamber with some nods toward civility and relaxation. It was amazing the difference that a tapestry here, a carpet there, made to the otherwise dull and plain stonework. Despite the summer weather, there were a few small braziers set up here and there, although not for warmth but to provide a steady flame for keeping beverages warm—tea, from the smell of it—as well as lanterns hung suspended from hooks or set in niches to provide strategic pools of lamplight against the encroaching darkness. Several benches and stools of hand-carved teak added a certain cozy touch to the place.

In the center of the room stood a large, rather ponderous-looking table that made the mountain cat wince; she could only imagine how much work it had taken to lug the thing up the stairs into this part of the fort. Covered with numerous piles and sheaves of documents, a large number of them maps, and with utensils and plates with half-eaten food sitting here and there amongst them, it was clearly what Tao had been using as an impromptu base of operations. Her heart ached a bit, as she didn't know whether to feel sorry for her old friends at being so pressed for time, space, and freedom to partake of such simple things everyone else took for granted, or to admire them for finding a way to do so while still staying true and loyal to their duties.

Crossing over to a rather large chair that he'd clearly claimed for his own, the vulpine stopped beside the nearest pair of braziers, where a set of collapsible metal frames had been arranged above the coals so as to support two small cookpots over the heat, and began dishing out meals onto plates for the three of them. "Help yourselves, my friends. There's coconut oolong over the other brazier."

Mei Ling couldn't help salivating a bit, and had to fight back the rumbles of her stomach, when she saw the choices being offered, and not just because of the long journey and her inability to keep anything down for much of the time onboard the ship. In one pot simmered a mix of blanched vegetables topped with oyster sauce and steamed scallops with ginger and garlic on a bed of noodles; in the other was stir-fried water spinach with shredded chili, tofu, and rice. While she would always have a soft spot for her homeland's dishes, and she'd come to savor the offerings to be found across the empire, from Manchuria to Shanghai, the capital to the Valley of Peace, there was definitely something to be said for how the Cantonese prepared their food!

After all of them had been situated around the table (on which room was swiftly made for their plates) and settled down to eat and drink, Tao began with a heavy sigh. "Of course I'm sure you know that pirate attacks aren't unheard of in any port city, and normally they could be handled with routine swiftness by either the local navies or ones from Beijing. I'm afraid in this case we got too complacent, let our jadedness keep us from properly preparing for what came. Not that we'd be terribly well-equipped down here even if we'd known exactly what we were in for, as you can tell."

A dark growl formed an undertone for his bitter words. "This fort, you see, should have been built some time ago, but no one ever seemed to be able to find the money for it. After all, look how empty our port is and how destitute the city." The sarcasm in his voice was thick and venomous as he gestured out the nearest narrow window toward the brimming harbor. The well-lit homes of the wealthy on the most prominent hills were also clearly visible even in the deepening night.

"There had been some rumors that Kŏngjù Nánfāng, as this pirate's known, was prowling the South China Sea," Liang picked up as Tao fumed silently.

"The Terror of the South," Crane replied slowly. "Yeah, I heard that name in Shanghai. I also heard what he's been doing." His tone was solemn, soft, and strained by worry...and fear.

The panther nodded, and although he had always been the serious sort, there was something especially somber about him now. "That's what the colonel was referring to. If this were a typical band of pirates, matters would not be as dire as they are. But to begin with, from the amount of plunder they've managed to seize, and the damage they've incurred on settlements all around the Nan Hai—much of it simultaneously but in numerous far-flung places—they must have at least a hundred vessels. Probably more." He glanced at his brooding superior. "What's the latest reports on where they've hit, sir?"

Tao roused himself, glanced down at a roll of parchment and its accompanying map. "As far away as Than Hoa, Da Nang, and Qui Nhon. They've also hit Malacca, Hong Kong, and Temasek in Singapura. The latter was just a few days ago. But they always seem to keep coming back here, to Haojing." Frustration marred his bluff face, as if he had an inkling of some clue or deeper meaning in this, but could not fathom it.

"May I see that?" Jia said suddenly. Wordlessly the fox passed the chart over.

After a few moments, Liang continued. "Of course, it's impossible to know where and when a pirate raid might occur even in the best of times, but this band has been...particularly unpredictable. And not only has there been the usual destruction, pillaging, and slaughtering, but they've imposed levies and taxes on all the settlements they've struck...except, oddly, Haojing. Here they've only focused those on the nobles and merchants. Then there's the punishments they inflict on those who resist them. We've found the...leavings, either discarded like trash heaps or put prominently on display for all to see. Beheading, flogging, quartering..." He shuddered.

"One enemy had his feet nailed to the deck while they beat him senseless," Tao said sepulchrally, woodenly. "We found him washed up on shore three days later, still nailed to that board."

For several long minutes the room was silent after that; behind her, Mei could hear Crane swallow, slowly and quite audibly. For her part she rather found she had lost her appetite, though she forced herself to continue eating since she didn't know when their next meal would be...and they would surely need their strength.

"They even punish their own just as harshly," Liang added after another moment. "During one of the last raids, the people reported to us how some of the pirates tried to desert with their loot. They had their ears chopped off and were paraded around the docks in full view of the populace until they swore they would never think of leaving again. Or else slain on the spot if they didn't recant."

"No wonder they're so brutal and won't yield in battle," Mei murmured into her teacup. "They're desperate, and terrified. Add to that the vast hoard they're accumulating, and you get fanatics."

Tao clasped his paws on the table, fingers clenching tightly around his own cup. "Now you begin to see the problem. It was enough to get the Emperor to directly send emergency funding our way to get construction going, and naturally the army has been pressed into service to expedite things. We have also, thankfully, had some generous volunteers from among the locals. Even the Buddhist monks have lent us their aid, and they never make a complaint, either. It's been very encouraging...but it's also revealed a few other things that we would prefer to not be true."

Nodding gravely, Shang chose then to make his own report; unlike his superiors, he had neither seated himself nor made any motion to relax, instead remaining in a rigid military posture. Mei Ling rather thought, in the only bit of humor she could find in the situation, that he seemed the perfect model for Imperial recruitment notices. "We think some of the rich elites and merchants here are aiding the pirates to get out of the...taxes they would have otherwise had to hand over to their new overlord. Although based on the palaces and villas we've found burned and looted, and what's been done to their former owners, I don't think the pirate leader was too keen to accept many of their offers."

Despite the implication of his words, the tiger let the corner of his mouth twitch sardonically before shifting back to a fierce glower. "We're also becoming convinced that the funds for building this damn fort have been systematically skimmed by some of these so-called nobles to enrich themselves. Of course, that was the only thing that didn't surprise us..."

"I believe the avatar the Portuguese worship was reported to have said, 'It is easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to get into Heaven,'" Tao quoted thoughtfully. "Wise words." Not that Mei was surprised to hear him agree with such a sentiment; even back at Li Dai he'd never approved much of the upper classes, preferring to take each individual on their own merit, only granting respect and service to those like Chen who earned it by their actions rather than their bloodlines and the contents of their coffers. The rest had, more often than not, been the brunt of his practical jokes, especially his most vicious.

"Isn't that the truth," Jia muttered flatly, which made both Mei and Crane look at her in surprise. "Hey, I may be half-bonkers thanks to Qing, but I'm quite familiar with human wickedness, believe me. I had good teachers...if that's the right word for it." She screwed her face up in thought, then shook herself. "And it was one of the only ways I ever saw eye-to-eye with Xiu when she was accepting commissions or picking her own targets..."

The mountain cat shifted a bit on her stool, considering that she herself came from a wealthy lineage, but she knew Tao and Jia weren't including her in that group. And she herself had met many courtiers and aristocrats who had not, in her estimation, deserved their ranks and were only living on borrowed time before the gods struck them down. It was why she had always hated noble functions...but had also forced herself to continue attending them, learning the words and gestures and every other detail necessary to function in their world, because it was the only way to be better than them, to do right by the people, and be there to curb their excesses—or remove them, one way or another.

"I believe we are getting a bit off track," Liang put in gently, wrenching her thoughts back to the present. "There is another problem to be addressed, and that is that no one actually seems to know who this pirate really is or what he looks like. At least, not that they will tell us. For all we know, he's walked these very streets, eaten at the noodle stands, frequented a brothel, and then prayed to the Sea Goddess for forgiveness in the temple all in a single day. No one would ever be the wiser."

Shang interjected with a low snarl. "And even worse—"

"There's something _worse_?" Crane echoed, feathers rippling in agitation.

The Amur briefly looked contrite and apologetic, but the anger didn't leave his voice. "The few ships the army had, as many of us came here on foot from the nearby provinces, have been sabotaged."

" _What_?" Mei sat up straight.

Liang winced, but explained. "At least one we can confirm was deliberately scuttled. Two caught fire, whether by accident or arson we can't say either way. The fourth, well...how to put this, there's no good way to say it, really…"

"It's a piece of shit," Shang said bluntly. "The wood's been rotting, the sails are torn and patched to hell. Stranger still," and here his voice slipped back into cynicism, if more wry than harsh, "none of the hemp merchants—in a port town no less!—seem to have enough cloth to sell us, even though they had a really good harvest this year. Instead they just keep trying to push the smoking variety on us for our medicine stocks. And recreation, of course. It makes you wonder if they're _trying_ to get us doped up on cannabis. It would make us easier to deal with, wouldn't it? And it's not like they don't have an example to follow, from what we've heard this pirate smuggles opium, too."

"The amount of help we have received has been shockingly inconsistent," Tao finished with a pained note. "It's like being in the middle of a family feud that everyone is trying to hide from you. I can't tell you how much it's taken its toll on the men. The only people anyone is willing to trust now are the monks."

"As well it should be," a new voice suddenly said from the doorway, speaking with a strange, exotic accent Mei had never heard before and could not place. "It is true, is it not, that such men have the ear of God? And who else can we place our trust and faith in than Him?"

Turning, the mountain cat was not at all surprised to see that the man who that voice belonged to cut quite the impressive figure—tall (although not nearly as tall as Shang or Tao), broad-shouldered, and of significant heft, though she could tell even through his clothes that as much of it was due to fat as muscle. Said clothes were quite rich and extravagant, if a bit careworn and dulled by sun, sea air, and perspiration from the heat: a long light blue tunic of unusual cut, belted at the waist and reaching to mid-thigh, with a flowing cloak of pine green draped over his shoulders; strange coverings of a thin, sheer fabric that completely clad his legs, matching his tunic only much darker in hue; and boots of soft brown leather, their tops turned down at the calves.

Even more unusual than the outfit, however, was his age and species. The former she would put as a little older than Tai Lung, as evidenced by the gray which streaked his thick, carefully-trimmed beard and dark curly hair, and the latter was a feline variety she had never encountered before—fur of grayish-brown peppered with white and silver, augmented by incredibly large and flowing tufts of cheek ruff that broadened his face considerably, with a pair of squarish ears topped by extremely long, thin tufts of jet-black fur that quivered and twitched every now and then.

That he was foreign was obvious. That he was exotically handsome was also unquestionable.

Thankfully yet another voice startled her out of her inappropriate ogling, and while this one bore the same accent as the cat's, it was gentler, with more of a softened lilt, and it spoke Mandarin much more flawlessly and gracefully. "Of course, Jorge, of course, there is no denying that. But God works in mysterious ways, takes many forms...and however well-meaning and good-intentioned they may be, I have often found those men you speak of to be, shall we say, a little hard of hearing."

Glancing at him, she found that while his clothes were also of sumptuous and costly silk (in rather more pristine condition than his companion's), they were of a local make, both in colors and in their lightweight, flowing lines that kept the wearer much more ventilated for the tropical climate. He was a herbivore of some sort, she saw, with brindled fur that mixed dark blacks and browns with a light tawny gold and a pair of horns that curled thick and high above his head in two back-to-back crescents; as had often come to her mind when meeting gaurs, takins, and other bulls in the empire, she wondered how he could support their weight so readily, but obviously he'd had years of practice to accustom himself to them.

He carried some sort of leather satchel hanging from long straps over one shoulder, its pockets bulging with various unseen items (though she caught glimpses of glass- and earthenware, feathered pens and writing material of some sort, and the corners of several books). There were many smile lines around his narrow mouth, and his dark eyes were startlingly warm and wise. For some reason she had the urge to sit by his side and ask him to tell her stories of his distant land.

While she was still marveling at the other newcomer's appearance, the first let out a deep chuckle, and when she looked back to him she saw him shaking his head—from his smile, with rueful appreciation of the jibe. "Always cutting to the quick, with you. And I must admit, _Senhor_ , you have a point. But I do not think you can deny that for the most part such men deserve our trust and respect. Especially in such a situation as this poor beleaguered city has found itself embroiled." Despite the elegant, florid phrasing, Mei Ling thought she detected true sincerity and concern in his voice.

The horned creature, who clearly was a scholar of some sort, smiled as well. "Indeed, these more than most. And not only because of this siege. These Buddhists, they have nothing and want for nothing in the world, being content from within, rather like our Savior was in Himself. When in such a state, charity to others is all there is to do, for in serving others, one serves the Self, the Christ within all. Is that not so, Tao, my friend?" He smiled at the fox.

Tao replied, with clear warmth, "Well said, my friend." And he rose to his feet, suddenly seeming more relaxed and less distressed, to cross to the newcomer's side and embrace him.

Glancing to the side, Mei saw that while Liang seemed just as amicable toward the bovid, his eyes seemed to flicker nervously whenever the tufted-eared cat entered his field of vision. And Shang, who hadn't moved a muscle since the two men entered, actually had his arms crossed tightly over his broad chest while his handsome face seemed to have become chiseled granite. _Well. No love lost there. I wonder..._

As the rather jovial greetings came to an end, Tao turned back to face the room, gesturing to each set of visitors in turn. "I had just been about to tell you, we do have a few more allies in our fight. I hadn't expected them to put in an appearance yet, but their quarters are nearby." He made a face. "Just about everything is, with as incomplete as our fortress is...anyway, allow me to introduce Captain Jorge Álvares."

"Leader of this expedition on behalf of His Majesty King Manuel, bearing goods for trade and tidings of peace that shall, God willing, bring our two lands and peoples together." The cat bowed deeply, removing the hat he wore perched between his tufted ears, and before she was even aware of it he had stepped close enough to take Mei's paw in his other, bringing his lips to press against her beige fur. "And if I had known that China possessed such beautiful and enchanting maidens as yourself, I would have sailed here far sooner, I daresay."

For several befuddled moments, Mei didn't know what to say or do; then, noticing that Jia had set aside the map at last and was struggling visibly not to burst out laughing, she shot her half-sister a warning glare, then smiled kindly at the captain. "If all the men of your kingdom are as polite and respectful as you, sir, I don't think we'll have any problems." She paused as a pained look briefly flickered in his eyes; did he know of the rumors about his people, and that they held at least some truth? "I've never seen anyone of your kind before. Are you...?"

The cat rose back upright again, although she noticed he didn't let go of her paw. "Oh, do forgive me, I had forgotten you would not be familiar...I am a lynx, my dear, from a mountainous area known as Iberia."

"What a coincidence, I'm a mountain cat myself." At his questioning look, she added, "From Kunlun Shan, in Qinghai."

"Such unusual names your people have here," he mused. "Though I suppose mine sound just as strange to you! Well, perhaps I will visit there one day, if only to look upon your beauty once more." His dark gray eyes gleamed with a rather mischievous delight, and a sultry purr rumbled in his chest. "Or will you be staying here with us long?"

Feathers bristling and the sound of talons scraping on the stone floor made her aware of the warning signs in time, and with determined firmness she removed her paw from the foreigner's. "Only long enough to help save the city, if I can. Then I must be moving on, to continue protecting the empire and maintaining the peace. That's what we all do, our tradition demands it of us. I'm Mei Ling, Master of the Eagle Claw Style of kung fu, and this is my fiancé, Master Crane of the Jade Palace."

There was a long pause; out of the corner of her eye she knew she saw Shang grinning like an idiot, and Liang looked only slightly less amused. She didn't know what she expected, for the lynx to become angry she was taken, offended (like some had at Li Dai, and many others in Beijing or across the empire had) that she had strayed outside her species, or even infuriated that a woman had become a renowned and powerful warrior; she had heard tales and rumors that such attitudes could be found in many places outside China, including this Europe, and had encounters which proved them true...and to her resentment she knew it was hardly unknown inside the empire's borders either.

But apparently she had misjudged the man. Although he did look a bit confused, and a flash of disappointment crossed his muzzle, Álvares quickly recovered, only looking deeply embarrassed, but he concealed it well. Withdrawing his paw, he twitched an ear as he stepped back to a more appropriate distance. "Ah. I...see. It seems there is still much I have to learn about your culture. My apologies. I am certain you will be a valuable addition to our efforts here." Nodding crisply to Crane, who though still watching him with narrowed eyes beneath his _dou li_ was slowly beginning to recover his poise and calm, he then glanced at Jia—and his eyes lit up anew. "But who is this lovely lady? Your sister, I surmise?"

If she had been completely out of the Portuguese's sight, Mei would have buried her face in her paw; the snow leopardess's face bore almost the same speculatively predatory look as Álvares's, and while if she knew her half-sister the lynx would do better to get back on his ship and sail home before it was too late, she had the feeling the fellow would actually give Jia a run for her money. _Oh, Xihe give me strength..._

Before she could answer, Tao cleared his throat beside her, making her jump, and then he was nudging her toward the scholar, who had been watching with patient amusement. "And this is Tomé Pires. He is—"

"Ibex by species, apothecary by trade, diplomat by the king's appointment, and historian by my own choice, thank you very much," the horned fellow interrupted smoothly, a twinkle of mirth in his own eyes. "I was sent to make contact with your people, and any others we encountered, so as to establish embassies, good will, and bonds of economic and political strength for mutual benefit. But in all honesty, I am far more interested in history and geography, among many other erudite pursuits. Above all, your empire is as rich in philosophy and knowledge, literature and art, heritage and natural wonders, as it is in wealth and power.

"I have every intention of learning all I can of you and your people—I am especially intrigued by this kung fu you mentioned—and when I have done so I will finish a book of my travels. My king, and all people in the lands at home, must know of your greatness and wisdom." The stirring speech faded into a somewhat awed, hushed silence, and then Pires let his shoulders slump, looking saddened. "That is, assuming it can be saved, of course."

Even as Mei Ling was still staring at him, stunned by his dedication and praise (and aware that Crane, too, was eyeing him with respect and pride), a slender spotted arm was slipping into the ibex's, tugging him close. The look on Jia's face was transported, an eager excitement in her eyes she hadn't seen there in so very long. It reminded her, with dawning familiarity, of a day thirty-one years ago when a gift of knowledge from distant lands, legends and travels, maps and paintings, poetry and sententious sayings, had awoken the spotted cat's desires to learn and know, to dream and explore...the same sorts of tales which this honored scholar wished to record and pass on.

"That's...that's incredible!" Jia breathed at last. "You make something like that, and it'll change the world. I just know it! Though it'll be a long time before you know everything there is to know about China." She grinned winsomely.

Pires chuckled; from the look on his face he already knew the truth of her words, and Mei suddenly wondered just how much material he already had in that satchel of his. "Well, I'm not getting any younger—and if I were, people would talk. Do I detect an interest, my dear, in helping me gather and relate this knowledge?"

"You bet you do! On one condition." A sly, suggestive smile turned up her lips.

"And what is that?"

"That you tell me everything you know about _your_ lands!" She nodded in finality.

The ibex laughed, a somewhat wheezy sound that nevertheless had a deep strength within it. "That is a deal I don't even need to consult with my king to negotiate." He squeezed her paw fondly.

Over Jia's shoulder, Mei could see the captain standing by himself, looking somewhat forlorn, but with resignation in his eyes as well. When he caught her looking, the lynx shrugged casually, then adopted a look of mock despair. "Such a thing has never happened to me before, I can assure you. But I suppose there is a first time for everything. God _does_ have a sense of humor!"

First Pires, then the ex-Wu Sister, began to laugh, until eventually all in the room joined in.

Once all was quiet again, and the two Portuguese had found benches of their own or places to stand so as to join the gathering, the ibex gave Jia a regretful look. "I am afraid our plans will have to wait, however. This matter of the pirates is far more pressing, and worrisome. We heard Colonel Tao speaking of it, of course…"

"And I insisted we step in," Álvares interjected, "so that we could inform you of our part in the defenses of the city. I am given to understand that your way of fighting involves a much more personal, close-quarter approach, but if I may be perfectly frank, I do not think this will be of much use against the numbers and weaponry arrayed against us. Our only hope is with our ships, and with this Monte Forte we have been helping construct—"

"We appreciate your help," Shang in turn cut him off, growling softly, "but I for one am getting tired of being holed up here, day after day, running out of food and time and chances, while this pirate sails circles around us and plans some major offensive to bring down Haojing's walls or conquer the entire dock ward. We have to find where they are, we have to find a way to cut him off from his men, and we have to take him out." He paused, his emphatic words still echoing in the chamber, then said accusingly, "And maybe it's just me, but don't you think we should get to name our own damn buildings?"

Tao fought back a snort of laughter, while lynx and tiger exchanged a hard stare, one side heated, the other quite cold. "It was only a suggestion," Álvares said with deceptive mildness. "And believe you me, I would be as pleased as anyone to find this murderous _bastardo_ and put an end to his thievery once and for all. But I do not think I need to remind you precisely how vast the South China Sea is. Even with all the ships at my disposal, I have not been able to track down their hideout for you. We must devise a plan..."

A small, diffident cough drew everyone's attention, and when Mei followed the sound she was presented with a far-too-innocent smile on her half-sister's face. "Funny thing...I believe I can help with that." And with a smug glint in her eyes, she rustled the map she had been studying so intently earlier.

Unsurprisingly, the lynx eyed her with skepticism and a certain condescension; while he found females to be worthwhile as prey for his seductions, and he had expressed his admiration and acceptance for Jia's aid in combat, he clearly had some reservations about her capabilities in other matters—particularly intellectual ones such as strategy and tactics. Like the dismissing of women in warrior roles, Mei knew this sort of attitude was also common in the lands far to the west, rather than being a unique failing of the Portuguese. (Nor were they unknown here in China either...) She also knew he would soon be disabused of such notions, and smiled to herself.

"Indeed? While we of course welcome any and all assistance you can provide us in the challenges ahead, and what my colleague has told me of your land and people suggests it is not only the men here who are capable, I fail to see how you could have concluded anything of great import in our task just in the few minutes you've had to examine that." Álvares offered her an apologetic, rueful smile, then turned back to Tao.

But before the fox could do more than clear his throat and eye the foreign feline meaningfully, Jia had smoothly set the map down on the table, her expression unchanged other than a darker, more intense gleam in her eyes. "I would never wish to dispute your skill and knowledge, sir," she said, far too sweetly, "but don't you think that me being new to all this, an outsider who hasn't been in Haojing, could give me an advantage? Let me notice details or see possibilities you don't because being here, living through this siege, has made you too close to it all?"

A soft chuckle answered her, and everyone glanced at Pires. "It appears you underestimated this charming young lady. There is more to her than meets the eye. Why don't you give her a chance to explain her rationale?"

The captain frowned, then crossed his arms over his chest and leaned back against Tao's desk, seating himself partially on its edge. "Very well. Speak."

The snow leopardess smiled brightly but looked very pleased with herself. Resting her paw on the map, she pointed with a claw. "Well, do correct me if I'm wrong, but you've marked not only where the pirates have struck, but when?" After both the lynx and fox nodded, Jia observed, "See, that's made it so I could do a few quick calculations here. The distance from here to each of the towns and cities they've hit, the days they appeared, the typical speed for ships of the sort these pirates tend to use...it let me plot how far they could have traveled at that rate and still reach their targets on the days they did, figure out the likely courses in each direction from them. And once you lay them all out on the map, it isn't hard to see where they all intersect."

Álvares was staring at her open-mouthed—no longer dismissive or merely humoring her, but with a new respect in his eyes. Shang was similarly stupefied, and Crane, too, for that matter; the long years since Li Dai, and how very good Jia was at feigning vapid silliness, must have made him forget just how clever she'd been in school. Tao and Liang, however, were only grinning (madly, in the vulpine's case, and with understated pleasure in the panther's) while Pires looked more like a benevolent patriarch approving of one who had vindicated his trust in them. Inwardly Mei Ling was cheering and applauding wildly. _Gods, I love you, sis!_

"You...could discern all of that. Without performing the figures on paper, or taking and marking measurements, or checking your sums to be certain they were not in error."

Jia winked. "What can I say, I was always good at math. If you don't believe me, though, just give me a pen, a compass, and some string and I can mark it out for you. It would make it visual anyway."

"That...might be a good idea," the lynx said slowly, somewhat faintly. "I take it this means you believe you have located their hideout?"

The former assassin frowned a bit. "I didn't say that. There's actually at least two places it could be that would still fit all the information, maybe a third if I fudge the numbers or if what you've got marked here is just an estimate. Plus I don't know what the weather's been like during all this time, there could've been really strong winds helping them sail much farther and faster, or barely a breeze so they'd have gone much slower. But barring that, I can at least give you some possible places to look, which is more than what you had."

Tao nodded emphatically and started searching through his desk for the requisite equipment. "Jia, you are a treasure. But I think you must have had more in mind than just telling us where the pirates are, or might be. Since even knowing that wouldn't tell us how to defeat them."

Her half-sister looked evasive for a bit, then sighed and hung her head slightly. "You won't like it, but...I don't think you can. Not with what you've got right now, anyway. We'll help all we can, of course, and if we can get close to the pirate leader we could take them and their lieutenants out, but none of that will help with all the men he has working for him, or all their ships and weapons." For a moment she paused, looking uncertain as if she wanted to voice something but was afraid to do so. Then she shook herself a bit and went on. "Anyway, I really think that if we can find the pirates at one of these places, you should send them a message, see if you can set up a meeting."

"Out of the question!" Álvares snarled.

"Are you out of your damned mind?!" Shang growled almost at the exact same time. He and the Portuguese flinched, glared at each other for a few moments in clear resentment at having agreed on something, then stewed silently.

Jia held up both paws. "I know, I know! I _told_ you you wouldn't like it. Look, I'm not suggesting surrendering or anything like that. Just...you already know this pirate leader is good if he can pull off all these raids, let alone if he really has been rallying support against the Emperor among the people. And if he's this smart and competent, he's gotta be open to the possibility of diplomacy. If for no other reason than so he can lord it over you how he has you all over a barrel." She sighed and lowered her paws, folding her fingers around the desk edge.

"At the very least, if you meet him, you can take his measure, get to know more about who he really is, what he wants besides plunder, how he acts and thinks. I know," she cut Liang off as he started to object, albeit more with worry and concern than anger or rejection, "that'll give him the chance to do the same thing to you, to all of us. But that's a risk we have to take. And maybe, just maybe, you guys can come to some kind of agreement, a compromise, a deal that benefits everyone. I know you'd rather just wipe him and his cutthroats out, just as he probably would love to do to you. But as someone very wise once said, diplomacy succeeds when no one is happy but everyone gets something they want." Jia paused again, then smirked. "Or to put it another way, it's figuring out how to grow a cactus while not pricking yourself."

Pires chuckled in appreciation, then eyed Álvares pointedly. "Speaking from experience, she's absolutely right. And you know it, too, _o meu amigo_. So many currents, just like the waters around Haojing itself, and this is the only way we can navigate them."

The lynx shook his head, closed his eyes briefly, then made a vexed sound in his throat. "God help me, but I do. It feels rather like making a deal with the Devil, but..."

"Some devils are less detestable than others," Tao interjected wryly. "And I won't agree to anything without careful consideration any more than you will, my friend. But we must at least make the attempt."

"What?!" The anger in the Amur's voice had turned to distress, even a trace of fear. "But...but you've seen the things he's done, sir! I—"

"You are still my subordinate, Captain Shang, even if I am more lax in formality than most in the Imperial military," the vulpine said coolly. "I know how you feel, but all I ask is that you trust me, as you have since you were placed under my command."

Jia smiled reassuringly at the big tiger, her cute, pixie-like, but still alluringly exotic features making Shang fall silent, tongue-tied. "Besides, you could get in there and find out there's nothing any of you can agree on. The meeting will still be worth it, though, because it'll let you get lots of information about your enemy...and it'll delay things. Every day spent communicating, traveling, and meeting is one where there aren't more raids and deaths." She turned to the hitherto silent avian. "You think you can fly to the places I'll mark on the map and deliver a parley, Jien?"

Crane nodded with alacrity, rustling his feathers anxiously. "Of course, Jia. This is absolutely the right course, and I would have suggested it if you hadn't." Even as Mei rather doubted that (not that she believed her other half was lying, but even after the two of them had officially become a couple, the waterfowl remained far too self-effacing, nervous, and unwilling to cause conflict by disputing with anyone), the kung fu master turned to Tao. "You know it from Li Dai as well as I do, Colonel Ji. Kung fu is meant for defense, not aggression and attack. Negotiating, trying to find a peaceful way out of this first...it's exactly what Master Oogway would have wanted." Nodding his bill decisively, he added, "I'll be ready to deliver the message as soon as it's drafted."

"I'll get started on it right away," their old friend concluded. "Hopefully this pirate will be amenable, and we can agree on some sort of safe, neutral ground for the meeting. Until then, I will have _JunFu_ Cheng show you to the rooms I've had prepared for you. I'm sorry, this could be a lengthier stay than we all planned on."

Jia purred quite audibly. "That's all right, it'll give us all lots of time to get to know each other better, won't it?"

As Shang squirmed under her bright, intense stare while Álvares in turn was eyeing the ex-Wu Sister with just as much interest, Mei exchanged a knowing and bemused look with Liang. _Where are we going, and why am I in this handbasket, again?_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Needless to say, just about everything related to the city of Haojing, the landmarks, and the events of this story is either identical to history or heavily based on it; I also have to say that in the process of my research I came to admire and even love Macau. I'd love to visit it someday. I hope that my desire for verisimilitude and to provide a good adventure didn't overwhelm you, and that you will enjoy reading this as much as I did writing it.
> 
> Shang's reference to the Pear Garden, like Jia's way back at the end of ADL, is about the local acting troupe of the time, the Children of the Pear Garden, though in his case it was the ancient Chinese equivalent of saying the fat lady was singing. :P While Shang is obviously Luna's creation, I specifically made shout-outs to her through his physical description and the age he lost his virginity; I also included even more direct shout-outs to "Soaring Dragon, Dancing Phoenix" through how many children he has, Hu Quon (and his being in Special Forces, _and_ his having a connection to the Wu Sisters!), and even the joke about him also having been in men's beds. Xihe, meanwhile, is the Chinese goddess of the sun.
> 
> Everything in Macau (including its original name of Haojing) is as authentic as I could make it, including Monte Forte. Álvares is a real historical figure who did lead the Portuguese expedition of the time; there is even a statue of him which still stands in Macau today. Pires is also real, as is the book he wrote about China which was quite famous and the best and most unbiased account of the East for several centuries.


	2. Chapter 2

Ji Tao took his time composing the missive, since despite being short on time, rushing this and not taking the proper care would be worse than suffering another attack in the interim or not sending one at all, since it could easily set the pirate leader off, ensuring there would be no recourse but a deadly battle to the death between their forces that could only end in a bloodbath—and more likely than not a humiliating and terrible loss for the Han. Either way, the people of Haojing would be caught in the middle and suffer the worst, something all of them were determined to avoid at all costs.

But with Tao's surprisingly well-developed sense of tact, diplomatic offerings from Pires, and general knowledge from Jia on how those on the wrong side of the law tended to think and react, they were confident the final product would be worth it. In the meantime it wasn't as if Crane had nothing to do while he waited, since there were a good number of wounded soldiers among the Imperial platoon that badly needed medical attention—and between the locals either refusing to provide it or doing so only reluctantly, and the garrison's rather limited knowledge learned only in the field, help from another source was absolutely essential.

Crane was hardly the most expert in such matters, but he had learned a great deal from Mantis and knew more than the poor overtaxed combat medics in the fort did...so whether it was administering herbs and other medicines to prevent infection, performing more delicate surgery with his wingfeathers that no other could duplicate, or splinting broken bones and binding bloody injuries, the avian did his best to aid all those who required it. Watching this, Mei Ling could only feel the already significant love she felt for him grow ever deeper, stronger, and purer, as he performed what many would consider thankless tasks with care, precision, and skill...and overall showed the concern, understanding, and calm needed to reassure and hearten the soldiers.

Eventually after two days all those who could be saved and restored had been treated and were on their way to recovery, just in time for the offer of parley to be completed. True to her word, Jia had carefully calculated and marked the map and determined the three most likely locations for the pirates' hideout—all uninhabited islands or reefs in the south-central waters of the sea—and so with the letter carefully stowed in his message-scroll case, and two broad strips of white cloth wrapped around each leg to flutter in the wind and mark quite clearly (before any trigger-happy archer tried to bring him down as a spy or aerial combatant) that he was flying under flag of truce, Crane headed off for the south with enough food and water to last him for a week—although they all hoped it did not take that long.

Once he had departed, the Imperial fort settled into an uneasy quiet in the baking heat. Only those who were lightest of weight and had the thinnest of fur coats—or who were the most aggressive and dedicated of warriors who would not let their skills or bodies atrophy no matter the weather—trained in any capacity, the others remaining in the cool shadows of the building's interior to rest and relax. There were bathing facilities, too, naturally, both man-made chambers with tubs, benches, and saunas and natural pools in sheltered outdoor courtyards. Despite the temptation the mountain cat did not avail herself of the chance to peek or ogle, learning the schedules and carefully ensuring she visited only when few or no men would be using them...but to her surprise, neither did Jia.

That, she soon discovered to her exasperation, was because her half-sister was interested in only one man on the island...just as only one in turn seemed to be showing her the same interest, a state of affairs that might have made it hard for her to frequent the baths anyway, if she wished to avoid him.

Mei sighed. It wasn't that she didn't understand the attraction. Captain Shang was a dashing, strong, and very, _very_ handsome tiger, and the few times she had accidentally caught glimpses of him leaving or entering the baths or his own room, she had been _quite_ impressed by the striped feline's physique, particularly his bared chest. Jia, whose own encounters with the soldier had quite clearly been carefully engineered (unlike Mei's genuine accidents), was obviously lusting for Shang thanks to his virile size and determined to bed him, one way or another—but she could also tell the snow leopardess was also fascinated with him as a person.

Although she didn't dare question Jia about it, she suspected it was how unlike the men she'd known in the past he was. Not just his being an upstanding citizen, brave warrior, and loyal son of the Empire but that he was so determined to take care of his illegitimate children and do right by them. So few men in China at all would do that, let alone a soldier...it spoke well of his family and upbringing, of his own integrity, and of course there was that adorable image of him entertaining the cubs he so undeniably loved.

Now that she had been pardoned and given a chance at a new life of peace and honor, Jia seemed drawn to Shang and the sort of existence he offered a window onto. And his gorgeous appearance only made her half-sister more blatantly predatory in her pursuit of him. Yet somehow the tiger was either ignoring her advances or, incredibly, hadn't even recognized that's what they were. She didn't think any man outside of Po could be that naive and clueless, and there had been more than a few pointed looks, deep swallows, and cheek flushes to show he did understand, so it had to be the former...but even that was startling. When Jia got like this, nothing could sway or deter her, so that Mei was quite certain her sibling would eventually claim what she sought if they stayed in Haojing long enough—in fact Shang's resistance guaranteed it, since she did love a challenge.

For some reason she couldn't put her finger on—although she knew it was not jealousy—something about this prospect bothered the mountain cat. But she had to chuckle to herself and watch with sympathy as the embarrassed Amur got backed into corners, given impromptu shoulder massages, fed morsels at mealtimes, even stuck holding the spotted feline whenever she managed to climb artfully into his lap. That is, when she wasn't annoyed at Jia for possibly jeopardizing their mission with her games of seduction.

Whether it was the gods agreeing with her, instant karma, or Jia's own delightful attractiveness, however, the dashing Portuguese ship captain was just as intent on claiming her for his own...and whether by chance or (she was quite certain) design, the lynx's attempts to flirt, woo, or simply converse with the ex-Wu Sister always seemed to interfere with the snow leopardess's stalking of Shang.

There were the times when, just as Jia was about to sit down beside Shang at mealtimes, Álvares got there first, turning a debonair smile at her cutely frustrated face while he reached out to take her paw in his—not deterred when she jerked it away. Or when he called the tiger away to look at some supposedly critical bit of information about the fort's building plans or a breach in the city's defenses to shore up just when Jia was about to commandeer him for another all-night session to relax the bigger feline's tense back muscles.

Or when she would go to knock on Shang's door only to be informed by a "coincidentally" passing Álvares that the _Duizhu_ had taken over the sentry duties for one of his weary, wounded men and was already out making the rounds "but he would be delighted to avail himself of her enchanting company in his stead."

Or when she attempted to slip into the bathhouse when she had been told Shang alone occupied it, only to find the Portuguese cat there instead. (Despite her commitment to Crane keeping her from hunting him any more than she could Shang, Mei had to admit that the one time she'd observed Álvares emerging from the steam-filled structure with only a towel tied securely around his waist, she'd found the lynx attractive despite him being too old for her tastes—other than the thick, rounded paunch, he had quite a good build, muscular and well-defined without being as bulky and massive as the Amur, Tai Lung, or even Tao.)

What had Mei even more amused than seeing Jia stymied in this harmless but persistent fashion was just who seemed to be responsible for it more often that not—because many times, particularly when matters of military maneuvers, policing the city, or seeing to the other soldiers came up, it was actually Ji Tao who either made the arrangements, informed Álvares of them, or off-handedly mentioned them to Jia himself.

She wasn't quite certain what it meant, if the fox simply found the former assassin's antics as ridiculous as she did—or even dangerous in how they might distract Shang at a critical juncture—if he found the whole thing to be a clever way to pass the time while they waited for Crane's return (which if so showed his tastes in guile and trickery had become far more subtle and sophisticated over the years)...or if something much more personal motivated him. But there were enough stiff postures, stony silences, and coldly resentful looks whenever Jia was using her feminine wiles—and warm, very intimate expressions directed at Shang when she was not at his side—to make Mei wonder...

Not that Tao had many opportunities to either be glaring daggers at Jia or coming up with new tasks and activities for Shang to occupy himself with. Not only did the fox have to supervise the continued construction of the fort (which conveniently enough often resulted in the snow leopardess being tapped to aid the building crew, putting her close at hand to witness the tiger's part in the sweaty labor but unable to get anywhere near him), and work with both Álvares and Liang in plotting their strategies in case the parley with the pirate fell through, but intriguingly he was spending a great deal of time with the ibex diplomat, Pires.

Mei wasn't quite certain what all they spoke of or did together, but from what Shang mentioned in passing, the two were devoted to their chosen spiritualities and frequently liked to discuss and compare. In particular, Tao had been teaching Pires Buddhist meditation, and when they could, they liked to sit together someplace quiet and practice—an activity that apparently Álvares seemed to somewhat disapprove of. The two men always seemed pleased to see each other, always indulging in deep, philosophical conversations, and it was encouraging to see them developing and strengthening such a friendship. They also were both becoming fluent in each other's language, and when he wasn't working on the book of Chinese culture he had told Jia about, Pires seemed to be translating some religious text from his land for Tao's benefit.

As for what the mountain cat herself was doing to keep occupied, she took the opportunity to relax with tai chi and perform the key moves of her kung fu forms so as to remain sharp, fresh, and ready for whatever combat might lie ahead—some of which she practiced with the uninjured men of the garrison, half of which were regular army men like Shang but the other half of which turned out to be Imperial bodyguards like Tao and Liang. Aside from this, however, and some rather pointed examination of all the maps, reports, and other information the fox and panther had either about the pirate incursions or the city of Haojing itself, it was in fact the Amur tiger she spent most of her time with.

Not just to help keep him out of Jia's clutches whenever she could, but because he had the most up-to-date and military-minded observations about what was happening here—Tao might be an incredible innovative thinker like Tai Lung while Liang had extensive knowledge of tactics from his book learning, but Shang had been in the forefront of most of the battles, had seen firsthand how the pirates fought, what worked against them and what didn't. He more than anyone seemed to have his finger on the pulse of this conflict, to understand what it would take to stop these ruthless raiders, to be brave and determined enough to make the sacrifices that might well be necessary, and to discern how they could join the disparate parts of their ragtag alliance together—even the Portuguese he so seemed to distrust and resent—into a force that could win the day.

But as she stood or sat at his side, absently eating bowls of congee or drinking cups of the surprisingly delicious tea the tiger had brought with him from the capital; discussing troop movements and strategy, tracing out where the various battlements and other protective barriers for the fort would be built around the island, making note of the most important and influential (and wealthy) places in the city that had not yet been hit; or trying to plan a defense that would take everything into account and hopefully, finally, halt the pirate fleet's depredations—throughout all of this, Mei Ling came to realize something else about her fellow feline.

Something that she had already had inklings of from his determination to protect Haojing at any cost, the clear admiration and loyalty he felt for and to Tao and Liang, his suspicions toward the Portuguese as possible threats to Chen's sovereignty, and his determination to support and do right by his many children. But something she was even more certain of now, after spending such time with him.

Shang was a _good_ man, an honorable, just, kind man who could be respected and trusted. And she liked him instinctively.

There was the concern he showed while studying the reports and maps of the city—wanting to ensure the homes of everyday citizens were protected, not those of the rich elite; his determination to post guards around the schools, temples, and monasteries; his choice to send detachments to check on those warehouses, ships, and storerooms that held food rather than luxuries and trade goods to make sure everyone would have enough to eat; the plans he had for giving Haojing walls of its own, and even some form of mesh or chain nets to act as a gateway for the harbor.

He made certain extra medicine reserves were on hand, not only for the army but also for the populace. She went with him as he personally made the rounds through Haojing, delivering all manner of provisions to the orphanages to make absolutely sure the children would be properly taken care of despite the siege—and unlike the stories Po and Tigress had told her of Tai Lung, Mei witnessed only excitement, eagerness, and pleasure in Shang while he was there, quite happily tickling, tussling, and rolling about with the little ones and even allowing his tail to be played with, which only made her heart melt. _This has to be what he's like with his own cubs!_

And of course the tiger was also solicitous with his own men, checking in on them not only when they were on duty and performing critical tasks for both fortress and city but also simply spending time talking with them, looking into their welfare and proving that he already knew them far better and more closely than most soldiers would. _Far_ more, if some of those comments and looks he gave when directing his men to find relaxation and spend time in the baths meant what she thought they did...

Returning from one of those forays to the barracks, and reflecting as well on the manner in which he had doted upon the children, Mei Ling glanced at the tiger beside her with an introspective look. "You really care about them, don't you?"

"Of course I do," Shang replied instantly. "I'd be insulted if you thought otherwise, if I didn't know how damn rare it is for people to do that here."

Mei Ling winced. "Then I have to ask...why do you, when so many don't?"

"You mean, aside from the fact it's the right and decent thing to do?" The Amur smirked lopsidedly at her before his face turned pensive and serious. As they reached his room at the fortress, he crossed over to the fireplace where another pot of tea was simmering—a delicate white tea, this time, with dried sour cherries in it, rather than the Assam tea from India of the other day—and filled a cup that he blew on before slowly taking a few sips. A soft purr filled the room as the exquisite taste seemed to soothe him; then he turned back to her. "Partly it's my upbringing—my mother Ming Hua always taught me that to see the right and not to do it is cowardice, and that when you are laboring for others, it should be with the same zeal as if it were for yourself."

The mountain cat smiled. "The words of Confucius. Your mother is very wise."

Shang's expression turned distant, as if he were gazing at something very far away, but there was such tenderness there, such a warmth and love in his eyes that she felt like embracing the tiger right then and there. "Yes. Yes, she is. But she also taught me something even simpler than that, something Confucius tried to teach, too, but which doesn't need poetry or eloquence: common sense. In this case, to remember that in the eyes of the gods, no one is better than another. If matters had gone differently, if the gods had decreed a different destiny or if people had made different choices, I could have ended up in one of those poor, destitute, rejected families instead of the one I was born in. Since I could just as easily have been like them, why in the hell should I treat them any differently than myself? Than I'd want to be treated in their place?" He shook his head slowly, the disgust and disbelief turning to regret and confusion in his voice.

Mei Ling stared at him, and when she spoke it wasn't for a few long minutes, during which she had poured her own tea, sipped it, and stirred it slowly in her cup. Sadness vied with bitterness in her own voice. "If only everyone thought as you did, Captain Shang. The empire, and the Emperor, were blessed when they received you. And the world needs more men like you."

The tiger chuckled softly, that ever-present smirk which made him look boyish and gently charming once again on his muzzle. "Isn't that what it's getting anyway? I have been pretty busy, you know."

Remembering what Tao had told them all, Mei grinned and began to laugh.

* * *

Several more days passed, during which the oppressive heat continued to weigh down upon them all but the relations among everyone improved greatly, just as the planning proceeded apace. Even Jia's and Álvares's respective pursuits seemed to die down a bit, although judging from how the lynx became rather disgruntled and sullen while her half-sister looked smug and vindicated—and the bemused, introspective look on Shang's face whenever he glanced the snow leopardess's way—Mei thought she knew how the two hunts had turned out.

Then, on the morning of the sixth day, Crane returned, winging down from the cloudless heat of the pale southern sky, and everyone gathered swiftly again in Tao's study to learn what news the avian had brought. The Iberian captain was understandably impatient, his companion as languidly docile and complacent as Grand Master Oogway had been reputed to be, while the others were somewhere in between in their emotions, but everyone was on tenterhooks to know.

To the frustration and annoyance of Álvares (and Shang), Crane hadn't been able to meet the pirate captain himself. Even Tao and Liang seemed unhappy with this, although they were otherwise pleased with the information the waterfowl was able to provide about the ships in the fleet, their crews, and the overall capabilities of the pirates. What was most critical, however, was that after some initial suspicion, wariness, and extreme paranoia, the fox's message had been taken to the pirate leader...and Kŏngjù Nánfāng had agreed to his request!

A parley had been set for two days from now, and the place chosen for it was A-Ma Temple—dedicated to the sea goddess Mazu and populated by monks and other vowed religious who would maintain the proper neutrality and peace, so that despite its being centrally located in the heart of the city it was still a safe haven for such an encounter. Any whom they wished to designate as representatives could attend, so long as no more than four accompanied their spokesman—the same restriction as applied to the pirate leader, who would be attending personally.

Naturally there was plenty of argument and debate after this was revealed, but although all sides gave their reasoning and explained it well, in the end it was really no contest. As hot-headed as he was, and with his authority and power here being far less than the Imperials, Álvares could not be brought in, and while Shang wasn't much better temperamentally, he had better control of himself (and more real stake here)—and someone had to represent the army's interests, since Tao would be needed to man the fortress in case of a betrayal and secret raid, and Liang would not leave his commander's side. That, and he admitted himself to being far too timid and self-effacing—for this, someone more decisive and active was needed.

And with Pires obviously required for his diplomatic prowess there wasn't room for more, since Tao decided that the best way to underscore neutrality (and that peace was truly being sought) was to have the three kung fu warriors be the core of the unofficial embassy—strong, skillful, and powerful enough to show they still meant business if it came to renewed hostilities, but drawn from a philosophy that espoused defense over offense and peace over violence.

The only one who really objected was Álvares, but the vulpine calmed him by suggesting he take the time to look over his fleet and be sure it was in readiness for war in case matters went badly; if that occurred, the lynx might well be their only hope, and certainly one of the biggest sources for rescue and valorous combat, something that appealed to the Portuguese greatly. So he took his leave, allowing Pires to closet himself with Crane for plotting their diplomatic overtures while Mei and Jia joined Shang in working out the physical side of their arsenal.

In two days' time, all preparations had been made. Tao, keeping watch through his spyglass from the fortress battlements, had noted when the pirate's ship, easily identified by its distinctive red flags, had sailed into port right on schedule. Liang, so earnest and forthright it made Mei's heart ache—no matter how he had grown and filled out, he was still that same sweet-natured boy they had known at Li Dai—informed Shang for the third time that he would be watching from nearby, the roof of one of the buildings overlooking this end of the peninsula. And if he saw anything amiss, any sign the embassy was in danger (or, as Mei read between the lines, the tiger specifically) he would be firing his bow and then leaping into combat, as well as signaling Álvares where he in turn would be waiting with his fleet, out of sight farther around the island.

Having sent ahead a supply of mangosteen green tea for the monks of the temple to prepare as a peace offering, Shang dressed in his full Imperial regalia (however much he privately moaned about the heat), and with the other four dressed in their own best formal clothing, the party set out through the many winding streets...accompanied only by the early morning mists being slowly burned away by the rising sun, the scent of joss smoke wafting on the breeze, and the endless churning rush of the sea's waves upon the shore.

By the time they arrived at the base of the hill on which the temple stood, all of them were extremely nervous and worked up to a fever pitch—at least she assumed the others were. Shang's emotions were as easy to read as an open scroll, although he retained his sense of decorum and adherence to duty, marching at proper military speed and posture; Crane's feelings and reactions were always carefully concealed behind a calm, unruffled facade, but she knew him so well she could easily discern his worry and distress despite this (though she didn't think anyone else could).

But Pires was a cipher to her, his face impassive, his eyes an introspective mystery—if he was upset, uncertain, or lacking in confidence about what lay ahead, she could not tell. And Jia actually seemed her usual bubbly, excited self, peering about inquisitively at every landmark they passed and offering her thoughts on everything she saw, whether a piece of local lore, a residence, or a simple merchant's stall. Mei frowned a bit, wondering if her half-sister wasn't taking this situation seriously, if she was using the obfuscating vapidity that had always been her stock in trade to mislead and cause others to underestimate her...or if she genuinely didn't see what they were facing as worrisome because she had a clever and duplicitous plan to handle whatever came their way.

As they reached the granite gateway which marked the beginning of the spiraling steps and paths leading up to the heights, however, the mountain cat felt an odd sense of peace and serenity filling her. She didn't know if it was the touch of the goddess or simply the reassuring quiet and beauty of the temple grounds, but somehow as they passed between the pillars with their sentinel stone lions to stop evil from entering the complex, and beneath the ceramic monstrous fish on the gateway's curved roof, she had the sensation that one way or another, this would all turn out for the best and they would all make it through unscathed.

Upwards they followed the twisting trails and stairways—passing the páifāng, or memorial gate, threading their way along the flat terraces and balconies lined with successive pavilions that sprawled up the sides of Mā Zŭ Shān, the lattice windows of the chimney-shaped First Palace with its upturned roofs; the main prayer hall within housed one of many images of A-Ma to be found on the mount, but it could not be seen behind the wall of incense already filling the sanctuary. Beyond this lay a courtyard where a large boulder stood behind a red frame adorned with tiny dangling prayer charms jingling in the rising breeze; a relief carving on the boulder showed a lorcha of the style that brought A-Ma and her good blessings of the sea to Haojing, according to legend.

Another shrine, another staircase (this one zigzagging), rocks carved with devotional poetry that marked a fork in the path; to the left lay the Hall of Benevolence, a small chamber of red-painted granite and brick that used the natural rock as part of its design. The original hall for the worship of A-Ma, its ornate roof sheltered a diminutive dark space, one she knew held another illuminated image of the goddess as well as her four attendants—the two mortal members of her retinue, the Book Keeper and the Keeper of the Gold Seal, and the two demonic guardians, Thousand Li Eyes and Favorable Wind Ears.

Despite the holiness of this ancient place, however, that was not where the pirate leader had chosen for their parley, seeing as it was far too close and cramped for all the ambassadors and their attendants—or, Mei Ling reflected uneasily but with cynical acceptance, for combat should the negotiations go sour. Instead, she had chosen the largest and most elaborately detailed structure on the hill, the one which while it did not crown the peak (that honor, as was only right, belonged to the Hall of Kwan Yin) did overlook a great deal of the lush gardens with their statuary, waterfalls, countless ponds, and profusion of flowers amongst the mangroves, cypresses, bamboo, and ferns.

The Zhengjiao Chanlin, with its brilliant crimson walls, high yingshan roof, and colorful reliefs of birds and fantastical lions carved and inset beneath the eaves, was the most auspicious and sacred of the buildings in this place that seemed a portion of the realm of the gods brought to earth. And although they could not enter it (since it was the spirit door of the temple), she could easily see through the large circular moon gate that there were already people waiting for them—one pacing the chamber restlessly, hands clasped behind its back where a pair of sabres hung sheathed.

Mei Ling paused, squaring her shoulders and gathering all her wits and courage for what might lie ahead. She glanced down the slopes of the hill toward the bay and harbor far below, where a few ships sailed with sluggish speed as if they were reluctant to intrude or even seem to approach Haojing's docks. The feelings which had come upon her as they began the climb were still with her, but she could not ignore the contrasting sensations of dread and suspicion that filled her now; the goddess might be with them, but what happened next would be up to those of this world, and she had far less faith in them. But she had Jia and Shang with her, as well as her dear Jien; and even Pires, when she glanced the ibex's way, had a look of beatific encouragement on his placid face.

Reminding herself that the promotion of peace and understanding were the true province of the kung fu warrior more than the ability to combat and kill (which were the last resort), and that if matters became dire they had Liang, Tao, and the Portuguese fleet to back them up, she took another breath and led them to the mortal doorway of the temple.

Inside lay an open-roofed courtyard, filled with smoke from the massive joss stick brazier. Timber placards hung from the roof, and in the center of the altar, a statue of A-Ma again looked out, this time between two lit-up towers bearing miniature images of the goddess. To her right sat the Dharma Protector Wéituó in his full armor, while to her left sat Dìzàng, the earth bodhisattva. Lotus candles filled the chamber with moody lighting, only adding to the sanctity of the place, but the imagery was somewhat dispelled by the living figures who also occupied the temple. Four pirates—a hulking gorilla, an equally large bear, and two slender ocelots—stood in each corner of the room like honor guards, although the professional and pugnacious way they held their weapons, and their watchful, suspicious expressions, made them far more dangerous.

Even as she was mentally cataloguing the steps and moves she would have to employ to evade their attacks and then follow up with powerful, decisive blows in turn should this degenerate into a fight, Mei Ling took notice of the other details of the sanctuary. A low table stood centrally located between the door by which they'd entered, the spirits' moon gate, and the grilled window that overlooked the harbor far below; on it was arranged a small meal of lychees, mangoes, and other tropical fruits for hospitality (Pires's suggestion) and the tea which Shang had sent ahead for the monks to brew and serve.

The latter seemed mostly untouched, although she saw one cup had been poured and rested on a saucer, and at least some of its contents had been drained. But the majority of her attention lay on the one who now turned to face the newcomers, striding with a gait both commanding and paradoxically relaxed, booted heels striking the stones with assurance and confidence that seemed lazy but which she knew was not anything of the sort.

Unsurprisingly, Kŏngjù Nánfāng was dressed for battle despite this being an ostensibly peaceful gathering—a shirt of scale armor attached to prominent steel shoulder guards, with a matching pair of gauntlets and even a flexible skirt of mountain pattern armor to cover the thighs, alongside which hung the scabbards for a pair of _dao_ sabres. But beneath the armor, however, the pirate leader also wore an actual skirt of flowing crimson silk which went perfectly with the pair of sensible yet elegantly narrow boots that extended from beneath it—and the rich dark hair wound up in a severe bun atop the scalp, held in place by an elaborate series of golden pins and ornaments adorned with turquoise, made the truth quite clear and was the reason Mei couldn't take her eyes off their adversary.

Captain Shang, of course, blurted out the obvious. "You're a woman!"

The pirate raised an artfully curled eyebrow and snorted. "Brilliant deduction," she drawled, her Guangdong accent strong and thickened by her sarcasm. "With such powers of observation, I can see the education provided by the Imperial academy is as top-notch as ever." Turning dismissively away from the Amur even as he was still fuming and spluttering, the other feline—for she was it turned out a clouded leopard, whose brownish-gray fur was somewhere in hue between Mei's own and Tai Lung's and whose rich and variegated spotted pattern was (she had to admit) even more eye-catching and gorgeous than even the snow leopard's—went on in a much more clipped, no-nonsense tone.

"Luckily for you, I knew whomever the garrison sent for this meeting would be merely a bystander and backup muscle. I also expected an intelligent and sophisticated diplomat." She nodded toward Pires, a gesture that even as it displayed no more honor than his station demanded was accompanied by a genuine respect in her sea-blue eyes. "But I am, I must confess, at a loss as to the rest of you. Whom am I addressing?"

Mei Ling took the time to glance at her companions. The Portuguese ibex had taken the revelation quite in stride—in fact if anything she thought he looked amused and rather admiring—while Crane she caught with his bill hanging open before he swiftly shut it. But Jia only appeared quite knowing, even smug! _You_ _knew all along, didn't you?_ she marveled.

Before the pirate could become any more impatient or annoyed, the mountain cat found her voice. "Ah, we're the representatives Colonel Ji chose to speak with you, since we all wanted to offer a neutral and peaceful embassy that would help us come to an agreement everyone can accept. I am Mei Ling, of the Li Dai Academy," and here she clasped her paws and bowed with deep respect, "this is Master He Jien, also called Crane, of the Jade Palace, and this is my sister, Wu Jia, also of Li Dai." She chose not to go into either their lineage by calling her half-sister or Jia's background by revealing more than her name; while it was possible this pirate would be inclined to trust Jia due to her criminal past, she might also see her as a rival—or disturbing and abominable due to her profession.

To her surprise and pleasure, Kŏngjù Nánfāng seemed quite impressed by both her and Jia's education and Crane's affiliation. "Li Dai? Now that is a name which _does_ suggest excellence in training and education. And I have heard of the Valley of Peace and its monastery, though I never expected to receive a visitor from there. I am honored." And she bowed in turn to each of them, just as deeply as Mei had—something which seemed to startle her bear guard, and which she noticed involved slightly more genuflection toward herself and Jia.

"If I may ask, then, for the honor of your given name, _nǚshì_?" Mei smiled at the pirate encouragingly.

For a moment the clouded leopard hesitated; then she stood proud and true, chin lifted and eyes bright with strong will, determination, and even what seemed to be abiding love. "Long Shi."

Behind her, Pires stirred. "My understanding of the languages of the empire is not quite yet perfect, but unless I am mistaken...'the wife of Long'? Or 'Long's widow'?"

Curtly, the pirate nodded, and this time Mei knew she saw tears standing in her eyes briefly before she blinked them away. "Close enough, yes. He was my husband, a brilliant planner, leader, and thief, and the original captain of the Red Flag Fleet."

Now it was Jia's turn to step forward; when Mei looked to her, she saw the snow leopardess had lost none of her confidence and satisfaction, but there was also now sympathy and deep interest in her violet eyes. She looked at each of them, but especially Shang, before returning her penetrating gaze to the pirate. "I thought so. A lot more is making sense now. When I examined the list of all the places you'd hit, the order, the distance, the timing...it all suggested to me a female mind, a woman's way of planning and calculating. I didn't say anything, of course, because I knew what some people on our side might think of the idea of a female in charge of anything, let alone sailing and fighting circles around them." She snorted.

"And, well, because I couldn't be sure I wasn't reading into it what I'd find the most appealing. Now that we know who you are, though...I'd really love to know just how you got to a place like this. This life, this position, this kind of prestige and know-how...just _this_!" She gestured in a way that both encompassed the guards in the sanctuary and the bay down below where her ship waited at the docks.

Long Shi paused for another long moment, eyes narrowed, as if attempting to discern an ulterior motive, a misleading concern and inquisitiveness that concealed an attempt to learn weaknesses and blackmail material, or a simple distraction from the matter at hand. Then, when it seemed she'd concluded Jia was asking out of genuine curiosity and fascination, she shrugged and nodded, her golden earrings clinking softly with a brief reflection of the temple's candlelight. "Very well. It was neither an easy path nor a painless one, but it has made me strong and inspired me in ways I otherwise would not have been. I was born here in Guangdong, in Canton itself..."

Shaking himself out of his stunned and flabbergasted state, Shang finally found his voice. "No wonder you keep coming back here to rob and pillage the place. Álvares thought it might mean something...it's because Haojing matters to you, doesn't it? It's as close to a home as you'll ever have now."

The spotted cat paused, glaring through slitted eyes at the tiger for his initial choice of words, but then her expression softened slightly and she sighed. "Yes. It reminds me of where I came from, many years ago. Like Canton, it is a place where the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, where those who truly make a city thrive and prosper—who enable empires to grow and become strong—are exploited and taken advantage of and abused by the ones who think that a special title they are born to and an overflowing coffer gives them more value and worth."

Her fists clenched at her sides, one hovering over the hilt of her sword, before she seemed to come back to herself and snatched it away. "It is a place I understand well, as I was once like the majority of its people. A prostitute in a small brothel, before I was taken away by the pirate Long Yi who would become my husband."

"'Taken away'?" Mei Ling frowned a bit. "Sounds more like you were kidnapped."

"I prefer to think of it as a rescue," Long Shi said stiffly, stressing each word deliberately. "Freed from a life where I was at the beck and call of others, where I was only a pawn to be used and manipulated for their pleasures...where I could not be myself, make a difference, fulfill my dreams."

A silence followed this proclamation, and when she glanced at Jia, Mei saw from her expression and posture that her half-sister knew exactly what the pirate was talking about.

"Is that really what you think you're doing?" Shang demanded into the quiet. "That by taking from the rich and giving to the poor, you're making things better for everyone? I mean, I'd be the first to say the word 'noble' is pretty damn opposite to how I'd describe a lot of those in charge. But what you're doing isn't the answer. Causing chaos, bringing down the empire, taking away the leaders but leaving no one in charge except people who don't have the knowledge or resources to do it instead?"

His green eyes flashed with fury and ferocity, and his voice became laced with disgust. "Not to mention all you're really doing is lining your own pockets. How are you _any_ different from the ones you claim to hate and want to bring down? At least they aren't causing destruction everywhere they go, killing people, committing atrocities left and right..."

His words were cut off by an infuriated snarl, and Mei instinctively started forward to place herself between them as the clouded leopard lifted a gauntleted paw to shake it at the Amur. "You _dare_ defend the system that lets them cruelly rule everyone's lives? You _dare_ say I am like them, that I treat them the same, that I would do to them as was done to me? Do you have _any_ idea what my life was like in that brothel?!" Before Shang could do more than raise his paws and begin to protest with an uncomfortable and distressed look in his eyes, she was launching into a rapid-fire response, words punctuated by increasingly vigorous, threatening gestures while she stalked slowly but surely across the room toward him.

"I was little more than a slave. Those in charge could barely be expected to provide enough food to keep me alive—they'd have cut the rations to even less, to save on costs, if I hadn't needed it for the energy to 'perform.' I was never allowed to leave—even if I had been, you know what the rest of society would have called me. To my face, not just behind my back! No one would care. Everyone would believe I was there by choice, or because the gods had ordained it, not because petty, wicked, greedy men and women had put me there for their own gain. That I hadn't honored my family, that I had disobeyed my husband and father and brothers, that I had failed to stay in my proper and honorable place. Or that I was simply too fond of fornicating!

"And what of those I was caged with? Do you think any of them would be capable of caring, or would dare to even if they could? Do you think such a wretched place would encourage us to stick together, stay by each other’s sides and stand up for each other? _Hah!_ Everyone fought over everything there—to get the best meals they could, to find proper clothes to impress our clients, to earn the highest prices so as to receive meager praise rather than violent beatings, to be known for and requested by name because of how good they were at what they did, to get some special gifts they made the most of. It was everyone for herself.

"Do you know how many times I was robbed, or abused by those who took me to bed? Do you know how often I was raped, but couldn't say a word because no one cared and of course I _must_ have liked it or asked for it because of what I was? Do you know how many times I had to draw clients in from the street corners, no matter the weather, or how I had to please them even when I was ill, or how close I came to catching any number of horrible diseases? Do you know that even those I should have been talking to and bonding with, crying on their shoulders for comfort, treated me no better or even the same? _Do you_ _know_ —"

Finally Shang found his voice—and unsurprisingly it was shaky, uneven, and strained. "No. No, I didn't, _nǚshì_. I had no right to say the things I did, I had no idea of what you've been through. You're right, you aren't like the ones who did that to you, who made you do those things." Regret, mournfulness, and shame warred on his countenance, something which seemed to mollify the pirate; at least she fell silent, crossed her arms, and regarded him with candid expectation. "But...two wrongs don't make a right. These people, or ones like them, did horrible things to you that can never be undone, but that still doesn't justify all of your actions." Standing straighter, the big tiger gained more and more conviction in his voice as he strove to oppose Long Shi's rhetoric.

"It hasn't just been the rich you've harmed, even if it was unintentional. You're turning the people against their ruler, a good ruler who isn't like the idiots putting on airs up in their mansions, who didn't make your life or theirs what they are and would do all he could to help you, if it were possible. And we know all about the terrible punishments you've inflicted—on anyone who resists you, and even your own men."

"Do you now?" the pirate answered, the insinuation in her tone blunted somewhat by what seemed a note of honest acceptance of the truth; the fact Shang had stood up to her at all, let alone with such intelligence that still acknowledged the pain and horror she'd been put through, seemed to have earned her respect. "Well, it's true I've had to employ some rather inventive punishments to ensure cooperation. Otherwise people begin to disobey you, and it's nothing but work all the time." The corner of her mouth twitched in a brief, wry smile. "But if you could see what my husband's fleet and his allies were like before he died, the things I had to do afterward to cultivate relationships and obtain their loyalties so I could make the necessary changes, you'd see those punishments in a different light. And I bet you don't know what else is part of my code."

When Shang opened his mouth but no sound came out, she nodded without surprise. "No, of course those stories wouldn't spread, only the ones that paint me as a wicked tyrant...well hearken closely, then." She held up her fingers and began folding them down with each point she listed. "My men have to follow my own orders and mine alone; if they don't, or even worse try and give their own and claim they were mine, they are beheaded. I won't allow anyone to take credit for my successes...or claim their atrocities were sanctioned by me. All goods taken as booty have to be presented for group inspection, registered by the purser, and then distributed by the fleet leader. The original seizer receives twenty percent and the rest is placed into the public fund. Any actual money is turned over to my squadron leaders, with only a small amount given back to the seizer—because the rest is to be used to purchase supplies for my unsuccessful ships. And no one is to steal from the public fund, or any villagers that supply us."

Her crisp tone changed to one of veiled menace and barely-restrained hatred. "As for how my men treat female captives...I will allow them to make their most beautiful captives their concubines or wives, but they must be faithful to her. The ones deemed unattractive are released, any remaining are ransomed...and any who rape their female captives are put to death."

Mei Ling let out the breath she'd been holding and glanced at the others; although both of them looked a bit green and certainly uncomfortable with the blunt, harsh punishments so decreed, Crane and Pires each looked resolute, determined, and supportive of what they had heard. The ibex especially seemed rather incensed by such barbaric practices and pleased with Long Shi's rules and responses to them, but she also could see the clear disgust and glittering coldness in the waterfowl's eyes.

Jia and Shang, interestingly enough, had almost the same expression of fierce approval on their faces, the snow leopardess elevating her nose and sniffing loudly while the tiger clenched and unclenched his huge fists at his sides before exhaling noticeably himself. Intriguingly, the clouded leopard seemed to find Shang's reaction, and clear vehemence against such wickedness, to be a mark in his favor; she certainly seemed less antagonistic toward him, regarding him more thoughtfully than before...

"I withdraw some of my objections, then." The captain set his jaw, then shook his head a bit woefully. "But I have to say...even if not all that's happened has been by your order, and even if you are setting a proper, honorable code among your men, the fact is...you're still turning the people against Chen. And we can't allow these raids and robberies to continue."

Long Shi's expression hardened, her eyes going flat and cold again. "And just how do you propose to stop them?" Her words were deceptively soft. "I know that even with the aid of your allies from the west—whom I trust no more than I do you, and if you wish to grant them unfettered access to the empire, you are a fool!—I know you cannot win even with them. If you persist in this, there will only be more death and warfare, until one or both of us are dead, and all our men with us. Is that what you want?"

Although his teeth were gritted, Shang kept his voice quiet too. "Of course not. But I don't see how we have any choice as long as _you_ won't quit, either. And if we have to sacrifice ourselves to stop you...to preserve the empire, and protect its people...then so be it."

"Perhaps," the pirate snapped, "if your vaunted Emperor took better care of his people, actually paid attention to their lives, what they needed, how they lived, instead of allowing corrupt officials and greedy merchants to exploit them, they would not have listened to my words or helped me be so successful! And you know just as well as I do that if we continue to fight, it is actually the people who will suffer, the innocent who will be caught between us."

Those words seemed to hang in the air for several long moments before being whipped away by the wind that blew around the temple heights...and it was not simply the altitude that made that wind chill, or brought the same frigidity to the sanctuary even after the currents had dispersed through the grillwork. Then, as they all stood staring at each other (although Mei observed, rather uneasily, how the four bullyboy pirates seemed quite on the verge of breaking the truce), a diffident cough drew everyone's eyes and a soft, conciliatory voice spoke.

"You are quite right, of course," Tomé Pires said cordially, smoothing out the front of his robes as he fixed a firm, unwavering gaze on each of them in turn. "And that is why we are all here, to achieve some measure of parity, a means by which we can all obtain something we want without any more harm befalling this fair city, and leave here satisfied. Leave here with an end to hostilities, may God and your Buddha both will it to be so." Gesturing to the table where the food and drink still sat, he managed a small but genuine smile. "Therefore, if we can return from our deviations to the matter at hand, perhaps those accommodations can be reached? I do have a few suggestions I can offer, if everyone is willing to listen."

Long Shi narrowed her eyes slightly at the ibex.

"I know you have little reason to trust us, madam," he continued diplomatically with a polite incline of his head. "I hope you will indulge an old man."

"You're damned right I don't trust your people," she said coolly. "Your people have frequently called those you encounter barbarians and heathens. You deny the humanity of many, even among your own. In Goa, I have heard, the king had to shelter an entire religious community from the wrath of fanatics among your order. The Dutch, who count themselves as part of your Christendom as you call it, continue to brutalize the people of the islands in Malaysia, Borneo, Java, and other places. Your religious fanaticism is frequently used as justification for your wretchedness and cruelty."

It was Pires's turn to take on a steely countenance, and suddenly the demeanor of the room changed unexpectedly. "I do not deny the barbarism some Europeans have exhibited, but you cannot fairly paint us all thusly. There are those amongst us who very much take to heart the saying of our Savior that only those without sin should cast stones at those they see as sinners."

"Did he now?" Shi asked with disinterest and more than a little cynicism. Mei Ling, however, perked her ears and tilted her head, listening quite closely; this was something she had not heard about the westerners.

"Yes. He said it to a mob about to stone a prostitute. Jesus Christ tended to prefer the company of the outcasts, particularly the poor, the sick, women, and even so-called fallen women. He was no friend of the money changers or the powerful. He was crucified for pointing out their hypocrisy."

Long Shi remained unreadable but obviously thoughtful, and her expression very slowly began to soften. The pirate had clearly been attempting to use the Portuguese reputation against them, but this seemed like a possible, and dexterous, outflanking, a means to deflect their adversary's anger and quite justified resentment with a fascinating but unrelated tangent, one which the mountain cat was pleased to observe. She also simply had to marvel at what the ibex was relating—it sounded more like something Buddha or Confucius would do.

"Did this 'savior' ever partake of any of the women?"

"No, he was a celibate, a renunciate," Pires answered more softly, showing no rancor at the stilted, sardonic tone the clouded leopard had used. "What's more, when he arose from the dead—for such we believe—he appeared first to possibly the most fallen of women in Christendom, for only she and a few other women remained completely faithful to him and his teaching to the end, even to the very real danger of their lives. Mind you, there is no scriptural proof that she was a prostitute. It would not have mattered to the Lord anyway, and even if she was not, others he visited and offered his companionship and protection were."

Long Shi considered him for several long moments, then shifted slightly. "I think I would like to know more about this man—but another time. I will hear you out, sir." She then inclined her head politely to him with obvious respect for his firmness of character and conviction as well as his grace and unquestionable humility.

Pires smiled and motioned to the table. "Then let us sit down and begin, shall we? Let us also enjoy this wonderful aromatic tea Captain Shang has provided us and the fresh fruits courtesy of the monks of this beautiful temple."

The pirate finally allowed a pleased smile. She seemed to be taking a liking to the ibex in spite of herself—but then, Mei Ling thought to herself, he was not a difficult man to like. His approachability and amiable nature reminded her of the wiser Buddhist monks she had met in her life. Jia certainly seemed to be even more in awe of him than before, and filled with an eager excitement as she hung upon his every word.

The delegates finally settled around the table, and Pires took it upon himself to pour the tea for Long Shi who sat on his right. Anticipating her possible suspicion of the tea, he poured his own cup and took a drink to show the brew had not been tampered with. "One can never be too careful," the ibex said simply.

The clouded leopard raised her eyebrows artfully. "An unfortunate truth of my occupation. I would hope, though, that one such as yourself would not have to worry about it."

"Since when have monks and clerics ever been off limits to being poisoned?"

"I can promise you that I have never done that at least," she answered with sincerity. "I may not always abide in dharma, but I will not attack those who do, nor will my men. The punishment for attacking holy men is the same as for raping women—at least."

"What about nuns?" Jia wondered.

"It has never come up," Shi answered steadily, matter-of-factly, "because no one has ever been brave enough to ask about it." The sound of her bullyboys swallowing uncomfortably could be heard, and the sound put a wicked grin on the pirate's face. "Sometimes it is best to let the imagination entertain the worst possibilities before outdoing it yourself should the need arise."

Jia shuddered. "Creepy...but effective!" Mei wondered if she was thinking of some of Xiu's worst proclivities and schemes; if so, she seemed to consider whatever the pirate was implying to be far less terrible, or perhaps more justified in this case at least. _That's not too difficult, when it's Xiu you're talking about..._

Long Shi picked up a lychee fruit and popped it into her mouth. "Now, what do you wish to propose to me here?"

Crane and Pires regarded each other for a moment, before the avian nodded for his co-strategist to speak first; while she had shown great honor and respect toward both Li Dai and the Jade Palace, it seemed Long Shi had already developed some regard for the diplomat.

"Asking you to leave would be pointless obviously," Pires began delicately, "so perhaps a change of allegiance might be more palatable."

"Change of allegiance? That must surely mean mine," she stated more than asked.

"Quite. Your naval brilliance would be an enormous asset to the empire. Your fleet is larger than that of some countries, it is well disciplined, effective, and could protect the borders and waters of southern China." Mei Ling had to give Pires props for his audacity; she knew if Álvares were here he would be throwing a fit at such a suggestion, and even Shang, who had become far less adversarial after learning more about the pirate leader, looked distressed by the idea.

Long Shi laughed merrily, but with a harsh mockery at its core. "You propose I become a mercenary! Does the Emperor have such deep pockets while fighting the Mongols? There is more valor in being a pirate than a mercenary, for a mercenary is all I believe I could be for the Son of Heaven." She said Chen's title with more than a little dismissiveness. "Who would trust my loyalty or incorruptibility as a pirate, and a woman no less? And what makes you think that I would trust him not to eventually have me stabbed in my sleep or my ship burned or purposefully scuttled?"

"Madam, I never seriously meant to propose turning a sow's ear into a silk purse. There would be profit for you nonetheless in the mercenary path."

"You control these waters," Crane added, stepping gracefully into the discussion. "That means you could impose tariffs and collect taxes. You would get to keep a cut of it in exchange for the right to administer—as well as for the Emperor's promise _not_ to have you stabbed in your sleep." In spite of himself, the waterfowl let a note of wry humor enter his voice.

"Hmm. That does sweeten the tea a bit, but I still am not likely to trust your Emperor," she repeated as she took another sip of tea and then took a slice of mango. "He certainly has not been effective in keeping the elites here under control, for they own everything. Some of them would sell their own mothers if it would make them a profit. In fact, some of them are involved in trading slaves, and sometimes they bear a strong resemblance to their masters." She paused meaningfully, and then her look flattened even further.

"Your Emperor is also quite fickle, in the way many men are. He is married to a great beauty and yet partakes more frequently with his harem and other stray women who catch his fancy—and even men, if rumor is true. Perhaps it is a peculiarity of mine, but as a woman, I have often found that men who are faithful to their own wives and forsake other women tend to be more honest in their dealings with others, especially women."

Shang was doing his best to keep a straight face and keep his hackles down, but his leg was bouncing rapidly on the ball of his foot. Knowing what she did of the Amur, both his history and his personality, Mei Ling could tell this woman was inadvertently pushing a lot of the soldier's buttons—not only striking at his own lack of fidelity but his guilt and private pain over it. The mountain cat gently put her foot down on his to quiet it, giving him a soft but direct look to show she was sympathetic. Then she turned back to Long Shi.

"We're getting a bit off the point again, I think," she interrupted as politely as she could. "Anyway, even if there's no way we can convince you to trust Chen or his sincerity, he isn't the one you have to deal with. Master Crane, myself, and my sister have been put in charge of this embassy, and invested with the powers needed to make any binding contracts. Moreover, although I am loyal to the empire my immediate superior is the Kung Fu Council; Master Crane answers to Master Tai Lung and Grand Master Shifu, and by the decree of the Emperor the Valley and its kung fu masters have always been independent of his laws; and my sister Jia has always been, shall we say, unaffiliated. So you can trust that whatever agreement we can come to, it'll be our authority alone that enforces it, and the Emperor will be forced to abide by it if he wishes there to be peace, and Haojing to remain within the empire."

That was not quite the truth, since there had obviously been no time to apprise Chen of the full details of the situation or gain his approval of the course that had been chosen, but she was sure (as were the fox and panther) that the Lord of Ten Thousand Years would see the wisdom of this course and go along with it after the fact. "And Colonel Ji has already agreed to do so as well."

A thick black eyebrow again arched on that beautifully-spotted face, and then the pirate snorted. "But that presumes we _can_ reach an agreement."

"There must be some way," Crane said softly. "And there has to be. You said it yourself, if it comes to war, the cost will be too high on both sides. You'll probably win, but who knows how many men and ships you'll lose? Captain Shang may be willing to go down fighting, take you with him, but I'm sure he'd rather avoid that if he could. I know I would. And after it was over, you might not be easy pickings...but it'll be a lot more likely the Portuguese will gain a foothold here, something you've said you don't want. And if you weaken the empire's military, the whole of China could fall prey to those Mongols you mentioned. Or any number of other enemies."

The waterfowl's earnestness seemed to have gotten through to Long Shi, or at least sobered her. She stared down into her cup. "You...make very good points. But I do not see what sort of accommodation would be acceptable to all."

Mei Ling nodded slowly, even as she exchanged a subtle look with her fiancé at the implication his final words had made; although she still respected Pires at least, Álvares did not inspire her trust even aside from his determined romantic pursuit of Jia. And they knew nothing of his comrades or superiors; that terrible story the clouded leopard had told of what happened in India, and the rumors of what was taking place in Malacca... "Well, since we answered your objection by stating it's us you'll be trusting rather than the Emperor, what about Senhor Pires's suggestion? Is there any other reason you can't change sides, become an informal part of the navy and collect taxes on the trade here?" She quirked the corners of her mouth. "Including on the Portuguese, if they do get an enclave."

From the side she heard Pires choke a bit on a mango slice, but after he had washed it down with more tea, he began to chuckle, low and admiring; either he simply approved of this gambit, or he didn't care for his people's practices in trade and colonization any more than the rest of them did.

Long Shi seemed to appreciate the jibe as well, but her reply was still dubious and sardonic. "You mean, aside from the fact I wouldn't be mistress of my fate any more?" She shrugged elegantly, her tone suspicious. "None, on the surface of it. But what would the terms be? You spoke of a cut of my own—how large would it be, and how much would belong to the empire?"

Mei cocked her head slightly, tilted a paw. "That depends. But if you agree to a more permanent end to hostilities, Colonel Ji is already prepared to meet you, and send word to the capital, so that you can decide on an amount everyone can live with. It's even possible it'd be the reverse—that you'll get to keep the _majority_ of what you collect, with only a certain portion going to Beijing as taxes."

"A pirate allowing themselves to be taxed?" she scoffed. "I'd never hear the end of it, and my reputation would be ruined."

"But you wouldn't _be_ a pirate any more," Shang pointed out helpfully, if in a bit of puzzlement.

"Why would I want to stop being one?" Shi shot back; the mountain cat couldn't tell if she was exasperated or amused. "Need I remind you of just how much fills the holds of my ships? And my coffers back at my hideout, _and_ in caverns on multiple islands all across the Nan Hai..."

Crane pressed his bill together. "We're talking in circles now."

The clouded leopard seemed to think so, too, and that any further discussion was useless, as she set down her drained cup and began to rise from the table—surely ready to depart the temple in disgust.

"No, wait a minute." The voice was Jia's, speaking up for the first time since the pirate had revealed her origins and they'd sat down together. When she looked at the snow leopardess, Mei spied a familiar crafty grin on her lovely face, but also a gleam of realization in her shining eyes; she wasn't simply plotting something, she actually had an idea that gave her hope for a resolution. "If that's the issue, if you just want to still be rich...how about if you're allowed to keep all your hoards? Not just the tariffs you collect, minus the taxes, but your own loot stays yours, untouched by the empire?"

Long Shi stared down at her, and although she didn't look fully convinced, there was certainly a lot more interest and willingness on her face. "Now you're speaking my language. But how could you get Chen, or anyone, to agree to that?"

Jia grinned even more cleverly. "Easy. And it's the same reason you'd be able to keep patrolling the waters for us. Because you'd be pardoned."

Now it was Shang's turn to let out a strangled sound.

The former assassin was on a roll, though. "See? Absolved of any wrongdoing you committed while you were a pirate, free from prosecution, able to be and do whatever you want. On the condition that you help the empire out in return, and like I said, you get to keep all your wealth."

While Mei was also staring at her, instantly divining just where she'd gotten this notion from, Pires stirred, picking up on the thread and pursuing it to its conclusion. "Retirement. Of a sort, anyway. And then your reputation would be intact as you would not have been conquered or surrendered. Simply choosing to cease your predating, now that you have enough gold and goods, and spending your later years giving back of your time and energy to make sure no one—other pirates, invaders, even traders such as my people—brings harm to the people or your city."

"And if any make an issue of it and resist," Crane added thoughtfully, "you even get to keep your hand in at fighting and show them why no one should cross you."

Although he clearly didn't like the idea of the pirate evading any justice being brought on her and her men, Shang could also tell which way the wind was blowing and seemed willing to accept it if it would protect both Haojing and the empire. "It's the least you could do, after all the ships you've taken out—we won't be lacking, if you just take their place. And other than the tariffs, we wouldn't even have to pay you, like we do the military. Plus, you could settle down, start a family!" His last words, far more enthusiastic and warm than his first, were accompanied by a cheesy grin that made him look more than ever like his brother.

Long Shi remained silent, her stunned look turning introspective and calculating as she mulled these possibilities over. Slowly she turned away from the table and walked over to the nearest grilled window, paws clasped behind her back as she stared out at the sun baking the city, the shore, and the sea; it was nearly midday now. All of them watched, holding their breath, hoping against hope that this plan which all of them had concocted so spontaneously—but built on logic, reason, and more than a little bribery—would finally be the breakthrough they needed.

How long she stood there at that window, gazing out and downward at the shining waters, Mei had no idea. She couldn't even guess at the nature of the pirate's thoughts either, since even when she did glance over her shoulder at them—to ensure they hadn't moved or tried any treacherous attacks, she supposed, although the speculative and assessing look she gave Shang was oddly...possessive—her face remained an inscrutable mask. But after a while, her paws unclasped and relaxed, instead hanging at her sides to stroke habitually at a pair of cloth tassels on her belt, one a surprisingly shining white, the other a deep crimson. The mountain cat took heart; at least she seemed less belligerent now!

Finally, after letting out a long, slow sigh, Long Shi wheeled back about, her head tilted slightly so that the gold of her hair ornaments caught the candlelight while the turquoise seemed to glow in the sun. "I will have to discuss this plan with my lieutenants, and you will need to give me assurances—from Colonel Ji and eventually the Emperor that these terms will be met, what percentage these taxes would be, and from both them and the Portuguese that there will be no reprisals for past actions. But the idea has merit, I will give it further thought...there is just one thing I need to do first, before I can decide."

Even as she was celebrating inside and wanting to cheer, Mei nodded, starting to rise herself so she could bow once more to the other feline. "And what's that?"

Sea-green eyes rested on her brown ones, intelligent and sly, with something dark flickering in their depths, and at the same moment she realized just what this meant and what the results might be, Long Shi smiled...slow, suggestive, with wicked delight. "Take the biggest haul of all!"

Instantly she was whipping the red cloth—which she'd been unobtrusively loosening all along, it seemed—from her belt, flapping it vigorously out the nearest window facing the bay. And her other paw snatched one of her swords from its scabbard, gesturing swiftly at each of her bullyboys in turn, then the delegation, before she leapt agilely out the spirits' moon gate.

For several startled moments all of them stared—at each other, at the place where Long Shi had vanished (even Mei didn't know if it was her having gotten clean away so quickly or the blatantly sacrilegious means she'd used to do so that startled everyone more), and at the bodyguards left behind. Then, as the four pirates recovered more quickly, enough so that she was certain this had been planned in advance, if not its abruptness, everything began to happen at once.

"Pires!" she barked with authority. "Get back in the corner, stay safe and out of sight until we've taken care of these thugs. Crane, don't let any of them past you!" The avian was already moving before she'd done more than said his name, his enormous wings spread wide to shelter the confused ibex behind them, create a barrier against the attacking pirates, and rise prepared to strike with all their dexterous strength, all in the same action. "Jia, you're with me. Shang—"

The tiger wasn't beside her any more. " _Damn_ it!" he growled, in frustration and annoyance as much as in anger. "She tricked us, she was using this whole meeting to distract us while she planned another raid!" Knotting the muscles of his chest and shoulders beneath uniform and armor, he was already leaping past her in the direction Long Shi had departed...and since the Indian bear had moved to intercept him with his own growl, the Amur didn't even miss a beat, bringing his _jian_ about in a swooping arc to block him.

Mei Ling had only a few split seconds to realize several things in rapid succession: Shang's blade was far larger and longer than other swords of its type, the sort meant to be used in martial arts; despite this, he was wielding it two-handed, testifying to his strength; and as a sign of his masterful skill, he was also doing so with the speed, dexterity, and style of a much smaller man and weapon. She could barely follow the motions, only aware the double-edged blade was there by the gleaming streaks left as it arced through the air. Again and again it struck at the bear's sword with such rapidity and force the ursine was stunned and pushed back a step with each blow.

Finally, just as he was about to be backed out the window, the pirate seemed to recover himself, twisting his _dao_ about to break it free, then slashing fiercely toward the curve of the tiger's shoulder, surely intending to decapitate him. But at the last second, Shang also angled away so that instead of hitting his unprotected neck, the sword slashed through the leather shoulder strap holding his breastplate in place—as well as, unfortunately, the cloth and furred flesh beneath it. The tiger grunted in pain, and with its support severed his armor began to fall forward and sideways, both exposing his chest to attack and overbalancing him on that side. The bear grinned and lunged again.

Recovering with shocking agility, the captain brought his _jian_ up and around, avoiding his collapsing protection—hooking the edge of the bear's sword hilt and deftly jerking it right out of his paw. Even as the weapon sailed across the room, out of the pirate's reach, Shang struck again, switching his sword to one hand so the other could form a fist low in front of his torso...slamming it into the cushioned back of his breastplate. Such was the force of that blow that it ripped the rest of the way through the torn strap, sending the armor flying forward right off his body—and the other side, which was most definitely not padded in any way, smashed the bear right in the face.

Mei Ling stared. _They didn't teach us anything like **that** at Li Dai!_

As the gray-furred beast was thrown backwards into the wall, there to slide down it to collapse on the floor in an unconscious heap, Shang was already undoing the other strap and tossing the ruined vestment aside; the mountain cat noticed in some amusement (and awe) that while the inside of it was dented in the general shape of the Amur's fist, the outside bore an impression that was recognizably that of the bear's anguished face. "Shit...good thing that wasn't my best armor." A brief check of his shoulder injury—although blood was leaking from the wound to stain his torn shirt, it didn't seem to be life-threatening—and the tiger was on his way after Long Shi again, leaping with flawless grace out the same moon gate she'd used.

_Almost_ flawless; in the silence that followed his exit she could easily hear as the ripped cloth caught on one of the nails in the window's wooden frame, tearing and damaging the garment even more. "Damnit!" More rustling and ripping, apparently as Shang divested himself completely of his ruined shirt, and then the sound of his pounding feet on the path faded into the distance.

"It just _had_ to happen when I didn't get to see it," Jia pouted cutely.

"Focus, sis, focus." Mei nodded toward where the other pirates, who had also been standing poleaxed by this unexpected turn of events, were leaping toward them again with weapons ready.

"Oh yeah, right." Suddenly Jia picked up her chair and began ululating a loud battle cry as she swung it around her head like a mad cat. The pirates stopped in their tracks, looking rather worried about what she was going to do, as well they should. The snow leopardess suddenly ran in the opposite direction, still ululating, until her momentum carried her right up the wall. Six feet up, she launched herself off, twisting in mid-air, and slammed the chair over the head of one of the ocelots. The seat shattered completely and took him to the ground, as out cold as the bear was. Mei Ling and Crane could not help laughing out loud.

"I love watching her fight," Crane said, beaming with humor.

"I should really take a leaf out of her book, don't you think?" Mei asked him with a grin, turning to the gorilla across the sanctuary that was suddenly getting his nerve back, especially at being laughed at. Clenching his massive fists, he let out an admittedly fearsome, roaring cry and barreled toward her, a bola whirling in his grip.

But she didn't let it faze her. "Come on, boy, Mama's waitin'!" Mei said in an uncharacteristically jocular growl, beckoning him on with her paws, a gesture the meaning of which he couldn't mistake. The gorilla had only covered a few feet, however, before without warning she kicked the table so hard it slid upright along the floor and slammed into his stomach, knocking the wind out of him with a nauseating grunt as dishware, utensils, and the remnants of their meal went flying everywhere. Mei sprinted after the table even as it was still moving, launching into a flying kick to finish off the stunned primate, his own weapon twirling back upon itself to wrap around his neck as he lay groaning on the floor tiles.

The mountain cat chuckled as she admired her handiwork. "Huh, that _does_ work," she remarked off-handedly. Cool as could be, she then turned around, picked up a lychee, and popped it into her mouth as she watched her beloved fight. She was soon joined by her sister, who selected a mangosteen, patted her approvingly on the shoulder, and winked before turning back to also enjoy the show.

Crane seemed to be thinking hard about how he could be as creative, his eyes scanning the area around him for ideas, even as he instinctively angled his legs and unfurled his wings to block the incoming blows of the final ocelot, who had made his way over the bodies of his fallen comrades and was now—rather desperately, Mei thought—slashing and slicing at the avian with a _dadao_.

"Jia, the teapot!" he suddenly cried, clearly knowing she would understand his intention. Like clockwork, the ex-Wu Sister tossed it his way and went right back to leaning against a pillar, grinning. With his outstretched wing, the waterfowl caught the crockery and let its momentum carry him on, twisting his body one full revolution before smashing it into the pirate's face. It shattered on impact, of course, and brought the small cat down screaming as he dropped his weapon instantly to clap his paws over his eyes—the water inside was still quite hot, after all.

To be merciful, Crane smacked him casually in the back of the head even as he was still clutching at his burned face, easily rendering him unconscious with the full power of his massive wing. As he walked by to join the two cats at the table, he smiled, picked up a mango slice from an undamaged and amazingly still-upright bowl, and sounded his pleasure at the fruit. "Not well trained, are they?" he said flatly, after swallowing his slice and picking up another.

Mei Ling shook her head, a bit disgusted even if she was privately grateful the enemies hadn't been more dangerous. "Nope. No ability whatsoever to anticipate the unexpected." She looked over at her sister and smirked knowingly. "Of course, Jia-style weirdness is really impossible to anticipate."

"Aww, thanks, sis!" Jia said happily, hugging her sister affectionately.

"I would have to concur," Pires opined as he emerged from where, with as much dignity as he could muster, he'd been hiding behind a candle-stand and an incense-laden brazier. "I have never seen the like. Is this how all of these kung fu warriors of yours fight, then?"

Feeling a bit ashamed—as effective as their unusual techniques had been, she knew this was not at all how any of them had been trained by Master Hu at Li Dai—Mei exchanged an embarrassed look with Crane. "Uh...not exactly. Usually we're a lot more disciplined than that. What can I say, Jia brings out the strange in us. There's no one who fights quite like her."

"Well, there's one," her sister said with sudden seriousness, quite at odds with the pert cuteness of her expression. "Po."

Instantly Mei nodded in agreement. "Yeah. Po. You got me there."

"What did Tai Lung say about him again?" Crane observed. "He's...unique. Yeah."

"To whom are you referring?" the ibex put in quizzically.

"The Dragon Warrior," the mountain cat answered flippantly. "We'll explain later. Right now I think we'd better go see how Shang's doing with Long Shi."

"Not to mention whatever her men are doing to this unfortunate city," Pires said, deep worry creeping into his voice.

"Let's go," Crane said just as seriously. However, as he turned to depart he still managed to glance sidelong at Jia with a humorous glint in his eye. "Maybe you can find a way to work an octopus into your next battle."

Jia's face lit up as if aflame. "That's a great idea! Thanks, Jien!" She hugged him and planted a sweet peck on the side of his beak.

* * *

By the time they'd emerged from Zhengjiao Chanlin (pausing only to inform the poor confused monks of the interlopers they'd left inside the temple who needed to be bound and removed for the local constabulary as soon as possible), descended the hillside, and come back into the streets of Haojing, much of their good humor had faded thanks to what they beheld along the way. As soon as they'd started down the slope they'd seen the smoke rising—from all over the city, from almost every hilltop, as fires raged unchecked throughout every district. Knowing what she did of the city's layout, Mei could tell that it had been the elites, nobles and merchants and other arrogant, greedy leaders, whose homes had been targeted and were burning first and foremost. _Funny thing about fire, though, it tends to go wherever it wants, whatever those who set it intend..._

Indeed, other areas were ablaze too—districts of shanties and other humble dwellings, a good portion of the dock ward, and a whole swath of warehouses; whether they'd been emptied of their contents first or had been struck precisely to get rid of them, she had no idea. But she knew if something wasn't done soon, the rest of Haojing would be burning as well, even the temples and monasteries Long Shi had claimed never to ravage.

Of course, it would be a bit difficult doing anything about it, seeing as everywhere she looked were throngs of people—either citizens fleeing an incinerating death, milling about in confusion over what was happening, or doing their best to salvage their belongings and families before then making a run for it. And among them, behind them, driving them on or utterly ignoring them while they looted and pillaged every store, market stall, and mansion, were the hordes of Kŏngjù Nánfāng's pirates.

As the four of them came to a stop in the shelter of A-Ma's gates, and Mei looked around frantically through the choking smoke for any sign of Shang or the cold, calculating woman he'd been pursuing, Pires let out a sound that was at once horrified disbelief and keening sorrow. "No...in the name of Our Lord, _no_! This cannot be allowed. Such a beautiful, prosperous city...so many good and innocent people...we must put an end to this! She _must_ be stopped!"

The mountain cat managed a rather watery smile for the ibex—tears were welling in her eyes and running through her cheek fur, and it wasn't just because of the smoke. "We will. We'll find them, make her pay for this. But first we have to get you to safety, and then—"

A cry split the humid, ember-filled air, one made by a very familiar voice, and Mei whirled about, trying to trace its source. Then she saw him coming—or at least, saw the evidence of it by how bodies of pirates were flying this way and that like children's dolls, since his pelt and armor otherwise blended into the increasingly sooty darkness of the haze that filled the streets—and she let out a quick breath of relief. "Liang! Over here!"

The black panther moved with quick, decisive and efficient motions that Mei couldn't help but watch with fascination; no sword or staff could get near him. He parried rapidly, the blades of his hook swords effortlessly knocking them out of the way and sometimes dislodging them from their wielders. With the other arm, he would sometimes slash, other times hook a bit of clothing or armor strap to deftly draw an opponent near to strike them with incredible strength.

A small crowd of pirates assembled on the street between him and the Jade Palace warriors. He did not break his stride as he approached them, and Mei grinned fiercely. One particularly bold wolf approached him, swinging a butterfly sword rather skillfully. The two crossed blades repeatedly, bending and leaping in evasion and attack, but Liang kept changing his position and height, striking high, striking low, twisting and whirling about in one rotation after another as if he were striking flower petals from the air—making the pirate dodge the hooks in particular. The dark cat fell to one knee and slashed at the wolf's legs, forcing him to jump upwards if he wanted to keep his limbs. He leapt back ungainly, his balance shaky, his expression showing he realized now just how outclassed he was, but Liang gave him no time to recover.

He lightly tossed one of the hook swords into the air upside-down and with his other sword linked their two hooks together in a single fluid maneuver. Swinging the thus-linked blades over his head and then down toward the ground, the panther attempted again and again to trip up the wolf. After two more swipes, he tucked into a roll, caught the handle of the loose sword as he tumbled upright again, and sprang for a high attack that belied his muscular bulk. The hooks unerringly found their target while the pirate was still trying to dodge with a harried, frightened look, sending the butterfly sword sailing high into a nearby lintel.

Liang hooked the canine's armor strap and ran forward, dragging the hapless, protesting fellow along before throwing him into the crowd; despite what the pirate had surely done in his lawless, brutal life, Mei Ling winced—mob justice was never kind. Meanwhile, the panther had caught the blades of two other opponents by their crosspieces, one low and one high, and with his powerful arms jerked them together, blades crossing as he drew his attackers into each other. The sound of their heads clunking together was quite audible.

Needless to say, the few remaining pirates did not stick around to challenge him further and instead ran as if the Lords of Death were right behind them, to the cheers and applause of the bystanding citizens.

Whistling low, the mountain cat smiled as she emerged from the gateway and came to meet Liang, the others following along eagerly behind her. "Wow...you really _have_ come a long way."

In spite of the amazing feats he'd just performed, the lieutenant colonel just blushed and shrugged; the _ru_ he wore was sleeveless, thus exposing his shoulders and arms to great effect as their muscles rippled beneath the black fur. "I only had good teachers, you know that. And a lot of inspiration in my classmates! Anyway, I came as fast as I could...I saw what happened, when she went running out of the temple, but I had to fight my way down the hill first." He wiped sweat from his brow with the back of his paw.

"Hey, nobody blames you for that!" Jia exclaimed. "You did your best."

He waved the matter aside. "Never mind that. I saw Shang!"

Crane pressed closer, his face anxious in the shadow of his _dou li_. "Where?"

"I was at the top of a monastery tower, just as I said I'd be. I saw him come running down the hill, chasing whom I assume had to be Kŏngjù Nánfāng. He wasn't wearing his armor or shirt." For a moment he paused, and there was something more than confusion on his blushing face; Mei had to hide a knowing grin behind her paw. "They were heading toward the docks, it looked like. Where she has her ship." Again he paused, and this time his expression was bleak. "It's not the only one there. It looks as if she brought a good part of her fleet with her, and it was hiding around the island out of sight until she gave the signal."

"This was very well-planned, and fiendishly clever," Pires observed quietly.

Mei shook her head. "We'll have to let Tao and Captain Álvares handle that for now. We need to capture Long Shi—that's her real name—and help Shang. She may be only one woman, but she's also conniving and diabolical, and even if she doesn't join up with her men, I don't think he can handle her alone. She's already tricked us once, after all." She sighed. "But we also can't just leave the city at her mercy."

"Let me," the ibex spoke up again. "As you so eloquently attested, this is not my place; the time for diplomacy is past, and I am not a fighter as all of you are. If I am to be moved to safety, I might as well be of use. The people need calming, reassurance that someone is here to bring them aid, and since I suspect what officials are not in her pocket or have not fled with as many valuables as possible are, shall we say, preoccupied, someone also needs to take charge of the relief effort before it is too late." Turning to Liang, he continued urgently. " _JunFu_ , if you would lead me to wherever the nearest detachment of your garrison is, we can see what facilities are in place for drawing on the waters of the bay—and any other sources we can find."

For a few long moments, the panther vacillated, clearly agonizing over the conflict between his duty to the city and its people and his very personal desire to help his friend and fellow officer. Finally he sighed and nodded, turning and gesturing down another street leading deeper into the city, this one thankfully less crowded and without any visible enemies looting. "All right, this way, _Senhor_." Glancing back at the rest of them, he swallowed hard, and though he tried to make his voice strong and commanding, there was a slight crack in it. "Please, my friends—"

"Don't worry." Mei put her paw on his shoulder and squeezed tightly. "We'll find him, make sure nothing happens to him. I promise."

"God be with you," Pires said fervently, and then he was hurrying down the street as fast as his age and health allowed, Liang staying protectively close by his side, hook swords ready to keep any more of the barbaric pirates from accosting the ibex.

_I hope he is_ , the mountain cat thought worriedly as she turned the other way, leading Crane and Jia toward the docks. _Him and every god and goddess we can get on our side._

Those thoughts turned out to be far more prescient and necessary than she could ever have expected. They made it to the docks in record time, since all citizens who hadn't been taken captive or forced to barricade themselves in their homes were fleeing in advance of the invaders and had reached other parts of the city or even the surrounding countryside by now, and the pirates themselves had fanned out into the richer districts. Still, threading their way through the winding streets which were becoming more overcast and murky with each passing minute, and which were also rather ominously empty and silent, was a nerve-wracking and uncertain business.

And as they drew within sight of the pirate captain's flagship, the masts and red sails of which they could see over the last rows of homes and warehouses, a sound floated to Mei Ling's ears that had her heart in her throat—the sound of clashing swords. Exchanging a quick glance with Jia, she saw mirrored on her half-sister's face the same thought: Shang had caught up with their adversary.

As they came around the last corner and at last hove into view of the docks, however, a running figure caught Mei's attention. It took her a moment to recognize him, since he was now dressed in a proper uniform (albeit with the shirt unlaced against the heat), but when she spied the sarong still wrapped around his waist she realized it was Tao. Bearing a _qiang_ which he carried with a familiarity that spoke to his expert skill, the fox had a rather distressed and anxious look on his broad face—one which turned to relief tinged by worry when he caught sight of them in turn. "Mei Ling! Thank Ti'en you're here, you won't believe what's happened…"

She came to a halt in the middle of the road, Crane and Jia beside and behind her. "We ran into Liang back by the temple, we already know—"

"Not that, it's Shang!" The anguish and pain in his voice as he spoke the tiger's name made Mei's own heart pound and her throat catch; if anything he sounded even more upset than the panther had been. "He's caught up with Kŏngjù Nánfāng at her ship. Right now it's just one-on-one, she's ordered her crew to stay out of it." He shook his head, likely at the revelation of the pirate's gender. "But I came to find you, and any other soldiers we can gather. One of her most-heavily armed ships is almost to the docks to join her, and they sent an ultimatum ahead by messenger bird: they have their cannons trained on Haojing, and if we don't back off and let their leader flee unhindered, they're going to blow the whole waterfront to the Jade Emperor's throne."

A chill settled deep in the pit of her stomach, which also felt as if it had been punched. "So if he's still fighting her when they arrive—"

Before she could finish her thought, Jia was already shoving past Tao and running down the street toward the dock where Long Shi's junk was moored. Mei had a glimpse of the snow leopardess's face as she passed, stricken with horror but also flickering with something dark and threatening; she wouldn't want to be their enemy when the former assassin caught up with her. "Shang! You've got to get out of there, the rest of the Red Flag is coming!"

Even as Mei and Crane were chasing after her, with Tao only a few paces behind, the mountain cat could see the deck of the ship now, where the Amur was facing off with the clouded leopard. He was indeed bare to the waist, the white fur of his chest gleaming in the sunlight like a beacon to draw the eye, and the way he wielded his _jian_ to strike and parry Long Shi's own blows was nothing short of masterful. The pirate, interestingly, was only using one of her _dao_ , the other still in its scabbard; was she making the fight longer and slower, to delay her opponent until her other ships arrived, or was she deliberately handicapping herself so she could test his mettle?

Metal ringing against metal sounded in the air as their swords met again, and then Shang turned to look toward their running forms. "What?" he called.

Too late; at that moment all hell broke loose. In his inattention, Long Shi lunged to take advantage, and before he could do more than cry out and fling his arms up between them, the pirate had cleanly disarmed him and was shoving him back toward the gunwale. Even as the two of them struggled (the leopard proving to be far stronger than she looked), other pirates were swarming across the deck to surround them, cutting off all avenues of escape.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw the vulpine swinging his spear around diagonally in front of him, although she wouldn't put it past him to try hurling the weapon when they got close enough; Jia was bringing her sai to bear. But the sound of surging water as something very large cut through it, creaking ropes and canvas straining against the wind, and a series of deep, muffled reports made Mei turn to face the waterfront—and she stared in terror. "Everyone, _down_!"

What she'd seen, of course, was the pirate ship bearing down on the docks—and the clouds of smoke in the air as every one of the cannons lining its deck fired as one.

Grabbing hold of Jia and jerking her down behind the questionable safety of a line of crates, she saw Tao similarly diving for cover, saw Crane taking off into the skies to avoid the incoming projectiles, and then all was lost in a violent explosion of sound, shattering wood, and fiery smoke. A whole line of warehouses was torn asunder by the cannonballs, walls ripping apart and roofs blown skyward by the igniting gunpowder, just as the piers themselves, the nearest merchant stalls, and several smaller boats moored to the docks were exploding into kindling. She could even hear the whistling and shrieking of rockets as a cache of fireworks somewhere in the waterfront was set off, sparks and multicolored bursts of light and huge plumes of smoke adding to what was already billowing in a gigantic cloud to cover the region.

How long this went on, she had no idea...but eventually, mercifully, the crashes and booms, explosive bursts and crackling fires, faded out. Slowly the dust and debris began to settle down through the even-murkier air, and as she sat up and brushed sawdust and pieces of wood out of her fur, she squinted through the haze. "Jia? Tao? Jien?"

"Here," her half-sister coughed, a silhouette on her right, and she pushed through the broken boards and pieces of shredded netting to uncover the snow leopardess. Jia was holding her side, and for a few moments Mei could not look away from the blood trickling between her fingers and running through her fur from where the shrapnel had struck her. As she saw her sister's stricken face, however, she coughed again and waved with her other paw. "No, no, I'm okay. It's not as bad as it looks." Bizarrely, she was wearing a small octopus on her head—surely from one of the ruined seafood carts—its suckered tentacles draping down to frame her face like decorated strands of hair. Despite the dire situation, Mei struggled not to laugh.

While she was trying to figure out how to alert Jia to her new fashion statement, Tao appeared from the left, bracing himself with his _qiang_ ; at first she thought he'd broken his leg, but she soon realized his limp was only slight, a sprain at worst. Grateful to see him alive and well, she made it to her feet and gave him a quick embrace—and then, as she was peering about through the settling dust with more and more fear and desperation racing through her, she finally saw Crane's form winging down from above and let out an explosive breath.

After the waterfowl had, with patient fortitude, borne her tight hug and quick but thorough examination of him for injuries, he at last spoke. "We're all very fortunate to be all right...but I'm afraid not everyone was so lucky."

"No! You don't mean Shang—"

"I don't know, but look." He gestured toward where Long Shi's ship had been moored—and she realized, as the last of the smoke was clearing away, that somehow during the confusion and destruction of the attack, the vessel had slipped its lines and was even now sailing out of the bay toward the open sea. It was still close enough that she could make out the clouded leopard on deck, just disappearing into what had to be her cabin, as well as her men milling about at their various nautical tasks, but there was one person she could not see. And as she looked around at the ruins of the dock ward, that roiling in her stomach returned full-force.

Hurriedly, by mutual and wordless consent, the four of them fanned out to search—pushing aside more torn fishing tackle and gear, pile upon pile of smashed wood, burning canvas and foodstuffs from the stalls, wheels and pulleys, fizzing fireworks still sending out fitful bursts of color, and more unrecognizable debris. Every time one of them found something and called to the others, Mei seized up, afraid of what it would be...what condition it would be in...and yet at the same time hoping for it as it would at least offer proof, a way to gain closure and lay to rest the spirit of the gallant tiger who had died a hero's death. Each time it turned out to be nothing, the twin sensations of crushing disappointment and fruitless hope warred within her.

Finally they were forced to admit the truth—that either their friend and comrade had been vaporized in the concussive blast, or he had been thrown into the waters of the bay where if he wasn't dead already he had suffered a murky drowning. They had found no trace of him or even his clothing and armor, no blood...the only evidence was his sword, the _jian_ having been thrown wide to land amongst the pulverized wood, stone, and brick, a battered and mute testimony as to his likely fate. All of them gathered at the edge of the only pier that was still present and secure, staring out after the pirate's vessels; Crane had doffed his hat, Jia (thankfully no longer wearing marine life) was crying, Mei herself was on the verge of breaking down as well, and as for Tao...

Averting her gaze from the fox's visage which was a rictus of hate, fury, and grief like none she had ever seen on him before, she noticed dully another ship sailing toward them across the no-longer-agitated waves; for a moment she tensed instinctively until she realized belatedly it was not only not a junk but of foreign design, bearing two flags atop its masts that she had never seen before—one marked with a shield of red with yellow towers and smaller blue shields within, surmounted by a crown; the other a red-and-white cross. Only when she saw the armored feline at the gunwale, waving rather frantically toward them, did she realize this had to be the flagship of the Portuguese.

Even before the ship had finished moving alongside the dock and its mooring lines were being cast, Álvares was calling out to them. "Comrades! I can but thank God you are all safe. After that attack, we feared the worst..." The lynx bit his lip, then froze as he saw all of their postures and expressions.

"You were right to. We lost Shang," Crane said quietly. Beside him Jia let out a small sob.

" _What?_ " Álvares gripped the gunwale with one paw, pushing back his helmet with the other so he could place it against his forehead. "How? That cannot be..."

When Tao answered him, Mei would not have known he was the one speaking if she hadn't been looking at him; his voice was thick not only with numbness, sorrow, and loss but also a rage she had never known he could possess. And the look on his face was positively murderous, a fury that turned it all to hard lines and sharp planes shadowed by the light of the flames still flickering on the docks behind him. "Long Shi. That is the pirate's name, and the fact she has turned out to be a woman will not save her. I swear, by Chu Jung's name, I will not rest until I have hunted her down, cornered her, and brought her to the executioner's justice for what she has done."

The lynx swallowed a bit, black-tipped ears twitching, but then he dared to shake his head and let out a soft, reproving chuff. "Despite what Pires will tell you, vengeance is a concept quite familiar to my people as well. And if what you have told me was true, I would aid you in your quest in an instant. Shang is a good man, and though we do not see eye-to-eye, I have great respect for him as a man and a warrior. But though I hate to say it, you should not swear your oath until you know for certain it is needed."

Even as Tao let out a strangled growl, Álvares continued. "You could not possibly have seen it, being in the center of the attack as you were. But my men and I were in pursuit of the vessel that fired upon you, and we were close enough to keep watch through our spyglasses. While I cannot say for certain what the captain's fate might be, my most sharp-eyed lookout—" And he gestured to an otter standingly nervously nearby. "—saw someone be thrown clear of the ship, and not long afterward be drawn out of the water even as it sailed for the sea. It was difficult to see, thanks to the distance and the strands of the net which hauled him up into captivity, but I am told there was certainly striped fur observed." The feline managed a lopsided smile. "In which case it seems revenge is not in order, but a rescue mission."

"Was the bundle big enough to be Shang?" Jia asked anxiously, biting her lip.

"Almost certainly," Álvares said with a smirk.

Mei was distracted by Tao's countenance which suddenly seemed to grow more menacing, like the first small tremors before an earthquake. A dangerous rumble was sounding from his cavernous chest, his paws in tight fists, and she was sure then that she was not the only one who wanted to step back quietly and slowly.

Unexpectedly, Tao threw his head back and let out a roar like she had never heard or thought possible from a fox. It startled everyone and sounded terribly over the docks. His incisors were bared, and his face was screwed up in white-hot anger.

"Bitch, I'll have your head!" he bellowed at Long Shi's retreating vessel, his fist shaking threateningly in the air.

For several long moments everyone stared at him; then at last Álvares managed to drawl, "If such be your intent, perhaps you would be so kind as to come aboard my ship, so that we may pursue her? Unless you were planning to swim after her."

Mei rather thought, from the belligerence in Tao's eyes, that he was going to do precisely that, but then at last he nodded curtly and, clasping his _qiang_ in a white-knuckled grip as if he yearned to hurl it like a harpoon at Long Shi's heart, he forced out a few words. "Get your damn boat over here then, and let's get to it."

A rustle of feathers came from her side, and then Crane dared to reach over and rest his wing on the fox's shoulder. "Of course, I'm sure Captain Álvares's ship can catch up with hers in due time, if she's as fast and sturdy as she looks. But Long Shi is gaining more and more of a head start, and there's no telling what she might do before we get there. So I think I should get at least some of us in just a bit faster."

He quickly outlined his plan...and slowly Mei began to smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As far as Long Shi goes, everything about her but especially her past and origins and her code of war, are derived from Ching Shih who hopefully needs no introduction. However for the sake of a good story, I have used artistic license as far as history goes: while Álvares and Pires did come to China in the 1500's (I finally decided, as you can tell, that the KFP 'verse of ADL is set in the Ming Dynasty), Ching Shih lived in the 1800's and the Monte Forte (name-dropped last chapter) was not built until the 1600's. That said, the depiction of the Temple of A-Ma is lifted directly from real life and history.
> 
> Long Shi's comment about people disobeying you and it being nothing but work all the time is of course from _The Princess Bride_. The bit with Shang denting his armor in the shape of the pirate's face is naturally a reference to Po doing the same to Tai Lung with a wok. Chu Jung, meanwhile, is the Chinese god of vengeance, while Jia ending up wearing an octopus on her head parallels Po and his lilypad in ADL.


	3. Chapter 3

It took only a few more minutes, as they were all hurrying onto Álvares's ship and the vessel was being steered out into the harbor to pursue Long Shi, for the waterfowl to explain how he best felt the lynx and his crew as well as Tao and his men could work together to pin down these pirates once and for all. As soon as he heard what Crane had in mind, the Portuguese sent his own avian messengers—two species almost as large as Jien himself, which he called albatrosses and gulls, and a much smaller and swifter one known as a cormorant—to gather and call in as many ships in his fleet as could be summoned on such short notice, and which were close enough to help. Tao managed to regain enough control of himself (although his anger continued to simmer and churn beneath the surface) to also send a quick note back to Liang so that he could rally the garrison and bring as many troops as possible onto the Portuguese crafts.

Wisely deciding it best to leave the fox to his own devices while he was in such a volatile state, and knowing that he would want to be in the thick of things as soon as possible, Mei Ling quickly worked to iron out their strategy and everyone's role in it with Álvares. Whether because he knew there was no time to argue or because he had learned his lesson from Jia, the lynx did not object, only listening carefully if a bit impatiently to her suggestions and directives.

And while she allowed that this decision, as well as how he implemented her ideas with alacrity and foresight, probably had a lot to do with why her opinion of and trust in him was rapidly improving, she couldn't deny the man had a keen eye for tactics and the plan he devised was both sound and boldly lethal—for their enemies. It even allowed for plenty of innovation and spontaneity on the part of the kung fu warriors, since he was still mostly unfamiliar with how they fought or worked with others. Barring any more unpleasant surprises from the clouded leopard, Mei was certain they could win.

But only if they were quick enough. And so, even as the ship's sails were straining in the wind to let them catch up with their prey, she and her sister gathered their weapons and moved to the prow of the ship where Crane was waiting for them. Although neither Álvares nor Tao had much liked it (the fox, Mei was certain, more because he wanted to be one of those involved so he could be first to wreak vengeance on Long Shi), they had seen in the end the wisdom and necessity of the course. _Someone_ had to catch up with Kŏngjù Nánfāng before she could carry out who knew what sort of deplorable, horrific torture on the hapless tiger.

The lynx had opined the kidnapping had likely been instigated to remove one of her most dangerous opponents as well as to give her someone to ransom for better terms from Chen, safe passage, or simply the Amur's weight in gold, and Tao had agreed with strained reluctance that both the tiger's rank in the army and his particular worth to the Emperor and the vulpine meant an extremely high sum indeed would be paid for his safe return. But they were taking no chances that the one who had decreed so many twisted, vile punishments for her men and enemies alike would not avail herself of the opportunity to abuse her captive—especially not once those who had been at the temple had described the conflict between Long Shi and Shang.

So until the fleet with its combined forces of the empire and the Portuguese could surround the pirate's and apply suitable chastisement, a small boarding party was their only option. Both Mei and Jia had attested to their skill, wiliness, and endurance that would allow them to face such odds alone (at least for a short while, after the pirates were in disarray and held back from defensible positions), and Crane had rather flatly told the tale of how, even partially paralyzed by nerve strikes, he had carried the rest of the Furious Five back from the Thread of Hope after their disastrous encounter with Tai Lung, to prove he could handle an equal or even lesser load.

Besides, Mei reflected with an eagerness that fought its way through her fear and smoldering anger, she and Jia had learned to employ just such maneuvers as this back at Li Dai...and she couldn't wait to put them in action now. _Master Hu would say we're being way too reckless. But we know what we're doing, and as Po would say, this is just too awesome to pass up!_

Álvares certainly seemed to be impressed, once he finally saw them in action, and even Tao despite his knot of cold rage admired them as they took off from the gunwale—Jia bearing a rather familiar set of sai brandished in her tightly-clenched paws as she fixed her violet gaze fearsomely on the surging waves below and ahead of them; Mei herself having strapped on her prized pair of _dao_ sabers (although unlike her half-sister, who had her legs wrapped tightly around her support so she could have both paws free, she wielded only one blade until she could stand on a solid surface again); and Crane, whose mighty wings were free to strike, slash, and batter their enemies as well as to bear them aloft. He did indeed have no difficulty carrying the two females, one perched upon each of his 'skinny little legs', ready and waiting to drive downward with their weapons and kung fu alike, just as Crane would descend from the skies to attack and divebomb again and again.

It was risky. It would require constant care, agility, and cleverness as they endured whatever contortions and aerial tricks the waterfowl would need to perform to evade the pirates or otherwise strike them in return. It would be a tense, desperate, wildly unorthodox mission that would test all of them in ways they hadn't been, together or separately, in years, as they attempted every trick they could think of to scatter, beat senseless, and demoralize the forces of the Terror of the South before swooping away and returning to do it all again.

Mei Ling loved it and couldn't wait. Jia looked just as pleased at the situation. She considered flying a rare and wonderful treat.

"You having fun, sis?" Mei asked as they soared over the water.

"I think I'd like to be a bird in my next lifetime," she answered, marveling at the sight. "How can you stand to remain so often on the ground, Jien?"

Crane paused, clearly thinking carefully about how to respond. "We all have our burdens to bear. My work often keeps me earthbound," he finally answered diplomatically. Mei suspected that Crane probably resented it more than he was letting on. Shifu had always been a hardass who never allowed a great deal of room for frivolity.

"It won't be too much longer before we arrive," the waterfowl continued. "You should get those bombs ready." He shook his head. "I don't doubt that they will be successful, but I have to say they constitute a brutal form of warfare."

"It's very impersonal," Jia agreed as she removed one of the small pouches of gunpowder from her belt and held it up in her paw, eyeing it uneasily. The invention was a recent addition to the army's arsenal, fittingly enough suggested and employed by Shang himself; Tao had approved its use now without hesitation and more than a little hateful fury, while its presence had inspired a pleased Álvares to make his own additions to the attack plan. "Xiu would have _loved_ this tactic. She liked lobbing bombs to sow chaos occasionally when she could get her paws on them, metaphorically and literally. I often used to wish that they would blow up prematurely in her paw."

"Jia!" Despite everything Xiu had done to both of them, and having killed their father, Mei Ling was stunned; that sort of callous, openly-vindictive behavior was not like her.

"Hey, even I've had evil thoughts. I'm not made of stone," Jia said—more pleadingly than defensively.

"Nor are any of us, Jia," Crane said soothingly, giving her a smile as he looked down momentarily. "Even Buddha felt anger. It's in our nature. That's in the past, though, and we have a job to do now. I can see her ship ahead just as well as you can." Mei had to admit he was right...and besides, considering everything Xiu had done to Jia through the years, it wasn't surprising she would harbor such thoughts about her or be able to think in such a cruel fashion; what was surprising was that she wasn't doing _more_ of it, hadn't been irrevocably harmed by that sociopathic monster... She managed a smile of her own for her sister.

Meanwhile, Crane was banking slightly, drawing her attention back as he began a slow descent. The wind picked up as he increased his speed, gradually overtaking Long Shi's junk where it moved under full sail toward the open sea to the southwest, until leveling out, still quite high above the pirates' ships and out of easy range of their firearms and cannons.

"Ignite the fuses," the avian said darkly.

Mei hefted up her own small leather pouch that contained simmering coals. She extended it out to Jia, who lit her fuse from it...watched it burn for a few seconds, took a deep breath...and tossed it. The three watched it fall to the ship, plummeting seemingly in slow motion through the noonday sky like a star from the heavens, a single glowing mote that none without sharp eyes would see against the summer sun. Farther...lower...nearly out of sight now as it streaked between sails and rigging toward the wooden deck...

It struck the vessel with unexpected suddenness, and in that moment time seemed to speed up again. The explosion ripped through the air with stunning force, the sound echoing all across the water even from their height, and a fireball sprouted on the deck, growing in size, ferocity, and destruction as it radiated outward. Debris blasted in all directions; heat bloomed upward toward them as some of the canvas and ropes ignited; men scattered around in the chaos. Some did not move.

The battle had begun.

* * *

Shang groaned softly as he awoke, his head aching as he swam slowly back to consciousness. Through his grogginess, he quickly ascertained that he was shackled and sitting on a wooden floor...somewhere. He looked up at one paw and then the other, his expression flattening.

"Oh hell..."

The tiger let his head slump forward and suddenly tensed, and not only because of how the motion had made his temples pound and throb. He shook his head—slowly—and reexamined himself, his mouth falling open. " _What_ the...?" He was completely naked save for a very skimpy loin cloth that he was bulging out, not obscenely but noticeably. He then became aware of the soft rocking of a ship, and as he swiftly concluded where he was and what must have happened to put him in such a state, his memories began to return.

He had been fighting the pirate, who had been a skillful warrior but not as good as he was (at least that was what he told himself—that she might have been holding back to deceive him or as a delaying tactic was a possibility he didn't want to consider). She was resourceful and creative though, he gave her that, and he had let that best him. After she had managed to disarm him with a lucky strike, then attempted to push him over the side of the ship, he had knocked her flying from the deck into a fish stall, but she had shot up behind it as he was vaulting onto the dock and running after her to subdue her and thrown a small, still-living shark at his face. Fighting it off and avoiding its horrifically-sharp teeth had been the chance she needed to scurry past him and back down the dock. Her ship was just sailing away at that point, and a rope was tossed out to her. She caught it and swung dramatically from the dock, up over the gunwale, as Shang raced back after her, swearing as she slipped out of his grasp.

"Now!" she'd yelled, and he'd only had time to half-turn and realize another ship was approaching across the bay—one of hers, not the Portuguese who for once would have been more than welcome, its decks lined and bristling with cannons—and then the weapons fired as one, smashing the stalls and warehouses along the waterfront as well as destroying the dock behind Shang, sending him flying into the water. Disoriented, he'd tried to struggle against the waves and swirl of water to get back to the surface—normally he was a very good swimmer, being a tiger and all, but aside from being taken by surprise, the rest of his armor was unfortunately weighing him down. A net was suddenly cast down upon him, thankfully hoisting him from the water...then something had struck him in the head, knocking him out.

"Well, that explains why I'm here," he muttered to himself, "but not why I'm... _dressed_ this way."

"You're dressed that way, Captain Shang, for my pleasure," came the familiar voice of the clouded leopard.

The Amur's head shot up, and he instantly regretted it as pain exploded within. He growled around it, his eyes screwing shut.

He heard her approaching him. Suddenly his jaw was held firm in her paw, and she forced him to look up at her through the tears still between his squinting lids. She smiled down at him, an expression he guessed was meant to be reassuring but instead seemed far too smug and gloating for his liking, and offered a local herb that he recognized was for dulling pain. "Go ahead. You can smell that it's safe. You took a nasty knock on the head from a piece of planking from the dock." _Really? Two guesses whether you or one of your henchmen 'helped' it hit me, and the first one doesn't count._

While at first disinclined to accept, Shang _really_ wanted his head to stop throbbing. He would need all his wits about him to get out of this fix. _And Tao always_ _said I had few enough of those as it was_. A pang shot through him as he thought of the fox—of anguish, of sorrow and loss, and of some emotion he couldn't put a name to. Finally, with ill grace he opened his maw and took the herbs between his teeth, beginning to chew.

"So. You going to tell me why I'm here—apart from your pleasure?" That she had such a motive was obvious, considering his scantily-clad state, and he couldn't keep the contempt from his voice; despite everything she had done in and around Haojing, he'd thought better of her.

Had her protests of innocence, combating oppression, wanting to protect the people of the city from the elites and bring change in the empire, all been lies or exaggeration to distract him, a pose to keep him and the others from figuring out what she really wanted? Had her tales of her origins been the truth, or just a play for sympathy? Or could his impassioned defense of Chen and the Hans' way of life actually have convinced her—not to surrender and abandon the pirate's life, obviously, but that he was not an enemy (or not just an enemy) or a disgusting ass like those who had frequented her brothel? That he was actually a man worth claiming and making her own?

"Ransom, bargaining, that sort of thing," the leopardess purred flippantly, interrupting his thoughts as she knelt down before him. "Nothing terribly original to tell." She ran her fingers around his jaw, and now he knew he saw a possessive gleam in her eyes. If she allowed her men to claim beautiful captives as their wives and concubines, after all, why would she not wish the same when she found a handsome example of studly manhood (if he did say so himself)?

Shang sighed. "Don't bother. I'm not interested in you." Which wasn't all of the truth—she was a very attractive woman, make no mistake, but even before kidnapping him he would have been put off by her many atrocities not to mention her illegal lifestyle. And after she did so...

"Is that so?" Long Shi raised her eyebrows, although the tone she adopted made it seem as if this did not matter much to her at all. "Aren't you supposed to have kittens scattered all over China?" _Gah! How does she know about that?! Is **every** one talking about it in China now?_

"What's that got to do with it?" Shang replied with a smirk to mask his mortification. "Even if I felt like guilting myself with more mouths to feed that I couldn't take care of—and no, using your ill-gotten riches for that isn't on the menu—you're not someone I wanna be having kids with. And I probably don't need to tell you that your ass will be grass pretty soon anyway. I'll be rescued, you'll be done for, blah, blah, blah. Nothing terribly original to tell."

"Very confident of that, are you?" She set her jaw, eyes turning cold, and he didn't know if she intended to wrench her paw away, slap him, or something worse. Though her fingers were tightening on his chin...

Before he could answer, an explosion suddenly rocked the ship, and then cries sounded from above.

"Shit!" the pirate cursed, leaping back to her feet and running for the stairs, paws already going for her swords.

Grinning from ear to ear, Shang simply said to the empty cabin: "Yup. I am."

* * *

The sisters could only carry a small supply of bombs, of course, but their entire purpose was simply to provide a distraction, terrify the pirates, and hopefully keep their opponents too busy working to save their vessel to put up much resistance. In all of these regards they seemed to be working, since there were plenty of milling, panicked figures on the deck, screaming and shouting, and the fire was spreading fast. It was a sight both exciting and terrible, but they and Crane maintained a professional detachment.

"I think that will have gotten their attention," Crane said dryly when the last bomb had dropped, beginning to descend in a grand circular coil. "You ready for the next phase?" This was also part of what the waterfowl had planned back on the ship, and while Álvares had expressed reservations—less about it working than if they could actually pull it off—both Mei and Jia had been quite confident, and even Tao had agreed it was something the sisters would be able to handle without much difficulty.

"That we are," Mei smirked. "Take us down."

Even if the pirates hadn't been preoccupied with trying to douse the flames consuming their vessel, she was absolutely certain they would not have been prepared for what assaulted them next. As was always the case when he went into battle, Crane ghosted in absolute silence through the sky, his wings unfurled to their greatest extent but not a single sound coming from their rippling feathers—not until they were so close that any warning it provided would be far too late. Streaking straight downward in freefall, the avian dropped toward the deck only to bank and loop upward at the last second...an aerial maneuver that not only brought his flight path curving back upwards again but presented his legs extended out toward the deck.

Perched securely on one of those limbs, Mei wasted no time, laying about her with her _dao_ to slash and slice at any enemy within reach. From Crane's other leg she could glimpse similar motions out of the corner of her eye as Jia did the same with her sai. More screams filled the air, along with pieces of armor, daggers and swords sent tumbling from their owners' grips, and streams of red as the two felines succeeded in drawing blood. Again and again they attacked, expertly wielding their blades to great effect: since this was a strafing run which allowed no time for deep, penetrating wounds that would likely catch their weapons and wrench them from their paws, they instead concentrated on swift, light strikes meant to bleed their enemies rather than fatally injure them.

In less than a minute Crane had swooped clear of the deck, carrying them out of the line of fire before any pirates could manage to recover or even bring their weapons to bear. But then he was twisting and circling back, coming at the ship from another angle, presenting them with all new targets to give the same treatment. It didn't surprise Mei in the least that a number of the cries raised now were ones not merely of pain or anger, but frustration, annoyance, and even petulant protest. _Oh, are we not staying still long enough for you to get a clean blow in? I'm **so** sorry!_

Back and forth...up and down...side to side the waterfowl dove and flew, always making certain to evade any incoming attacks before they could land. Such was the sisters' sense of balance, situational awareness, and ability to adapt to a dynamic field of battle that even when Crane performed loop-the-loops, corkscrew spirals, and sideways inversions, they still succeeded in holding onto his legs—all while slashing and stabbing out from constantly changing directions. Mei was fairly certain she managed to lop off a body part here and there—a paw, an arm, even a head when she was lucky—while Jia seemed to be slicing open throats and abdomens with impunity.

Privately the mountain cat was sickened by the whole thing, as she always was when she was forced to enter a combat where there was no possibility of surrender or non-lethal injuries...as she hoped she always would be...but she couldn't deny there was still a certain appeal. These pirates had committed so many atrocities and were now finally being karmically repaid for at least some portion of them; this would save Haojing, save Shang; and it was simply a well-executed plan that she couldn't help but admire as it unfolded so successfully before her eyes. _Long Shi picked the wrong people to betray._

After several more breathless minutes during which they crisscrossed the deck multiple times, wove their way between the masts and rigging, under and around the ribbed crimson sails, and in and out of the surging mass of enemies who had not yet succumbed to agony or blood loss, Crane rose back into the sky once more on a warm updraft, circling above the battered ship. "All right," he declared with vindication. "That should thin them out enough so you can handle the rest, at least until I get back." Zeroing in on the crow's nest, he prepared to dive yet again. "Get ready to jump!"

"I'm good, Jien, thanks," Jia purred...and without warning leapt off of his leg to plummet toward the deck below. Crane let out a squawk of shock, but Mei had just caught that twinkle in her sister's eye and her grin, and so she had known what was coming. Immediately sounding her favorite battle cry, the snow leopardess turned front flip after front flip in mid-air before catching a piece of loose rope from a burning sail.

Using that to change the momentum of her fall, she performed a great revolution around the mast before letting go again to drop another ten feet; caught more of the rigging to soak up still more of her speed; and at last dismounted again, this time with a double backflip that landed her square on the deck in the middle of the chaos. All the eyes of the men were suddenly on her, stunned by her crazy stunt.

"Who's hungry?" the spotted cat called out as she reached into her tunic and produced...the octopus from the market, which she began swinging around by the tentacles. Cackling, and not waiting for an answer, she launched into action against the nearest target.

"She's using an octopus as a weapon," Crane said in amazed disbelief as he continued circling. "I was joking before, but she went ahead and did it. She's mad. I'm convinced of it now. Brilliant, too, but certifiably mad."

"What kind of warrior is she going to become?" Mei marveled as she watched Jia smacking people all over, turning cartwheels and flips, bouncing off the gunwale, causing mayhem with which no one could keep up. "Is it possible her true blossoming as a kung fu master could only start after getting away from Xiu?"

"They'll have to name a new category after her style of fighting," Jien observed with glee. "It combines kung fu, acrobatics, ribbon dancing, fighting with octopi and chairs, and a level of creative innovation on par with the Leopard style."

"Tai Lung and I are going to drive her crazy with questions and demonstrations when we get back to the Jade Palace. We may have a new scroll to codify." Mei was absolutely delighted at the prospect; something as exciting and unpredictable as this deserved to be remembered, right alongside Drunken Monkey style, but after making her heart leap into her throat like that, Jia herself deserved to be tormented in just such a manner.

"I think we're low enough now," she added belatedly. "See you soon, _băo băo_." Finally letting go of his other leg, she dropped down onto a sail that was just catching fire. Sticking her _dao_ into the igniting canvas, she rode it down to the deck with a satisfyingly audible rip, landing adroitly near her sister...and as Crane wheeled about to streak as fast as he could toward the Portuguese ship that had already crested the horizon and was rapidly catching up, Mei brought her weapons into play and leaped into battle again as well.

"Hi, sis! Good to see you," Jia greeted her excitedly. "Wanna say hello to my new friend?" She held the octopus up to her sister's nose. "Wanna kiss?"

"Ew!" Mei leapt back a bit. "Let them kiss it instead, okay?"

"Awww, you made him sad," Jia said with a silly frown. "Can't you see it in his eyes?"

If there was any feeling to be viewed in the creature's eyes, Mei Ling could not detect it. "I love _you_ , sis, and I'll give _you_ a kiss later."

"Okey-dokey!"

Shaking her head again, Mei unsheathed her _dao_ blades and blocked the first stroke that came at her. She parried the strike with one blade, swung the other in front to knock the pirate's sword out of his paw, and then spun to deliver a forceful kick to the bull's abdomen, sending him into one of his comrades and taking them both down.

"Only two?" Jia teased and blew a raspberry. "Come on, sis, you can do better than that."

"Oh, so it's a competition now, is it?" Mei could not help smirking.

"Well, duh! We're sisters, O Learned Wise One of the Thousand Scrolls." Jia rolled her eyes and started running in the other direction as she was chased by a group of pirates. In fact, it rather looked as if _she_ was leading _them_. Sensing more men coming her way, Mei leapt high, turning a backflip and twist and catching some of the rigging hanging from the mast, putting her out of their reach. In truth, though, she was only stalling for time to see what Jia was going to do so that she could compete in tally.

Jia had five pirates after her, lined up in a row. She ran up one of the masts, flipped over, and landed on one of the men's shoulders. Her sudden weight made his knees buckle, bringing her face-to-face with a very surprised otter. Instantly her fist shot out, knocking him cold. The ex-Wu Sister then literally skipped off the shoulders of the serval that had been bearing her weight, one of her trailing feet kicking him in the jaw as she went so that he fell just as unconscious as the otter.

Even as she dropped toward the deck, Jia caught herself with both paws and did a flawless tuck-and-roll, right into the path of a young wolf who could not get out of the way in time. Her booted feet came up and collided hard with his chest, knocking the wind out of him and sending him flying onto his back; a follow-up smash of an elbow to his face took him out of commission too.

Still moving with breathless speed, the snow leopardess then bent back, placing her paw on the fallen canine's chest to spring upward so that her leg could rotate in a wide sweep, taking out the fourth pirate. Her other leg came up to counterbalance herself, as if she were atop the Jade Tortoise of Wisdom back in the kwoon, and on the return, she threw her octopus—which she'd somehow retained her hold on—at her final enemy. He cried out in terror, and Jia watched, still holding a one-pawed handstand and laughing as he struggled with it.

"He's afraid of octopi, huh? Interesting." She vaulted off, inverting her body so she landed on his feet, making him cry out now in pain. With the butts of her sai handles, she boxed his skull. The screaming stopped, and he fell. Still standing on his feet, she looked up at Mei, a sweet smile on her face. "Five—and I barely touched the ground."

Mei Ling stuck her tongue out and returned the raspberry her sister gave her earlier. "Show-off."

"Damn does it feel good!" She picked up her octopus, sounded another battle cry, and began running after a few more men—who unsurprisingly ran in the opposite way.

Mei allowed herself to fall backward, reaching out for the monkey climbing up the rigging towards her. With her weight and considerable strength, she pulled off and tossed him hard into a group of pirates beneath them both, then hit the deck with both _dao_ sabres unsheathed. Taking inspiration from her sister, she leapt gracefully towards the few men remaining. She wanted them taken care of quickly, as a relief ship was quickly closing in on them with fresh blood and Álvares's ship was still some distance away.

She spun around like a ginkgo seed, her swords slicing a deadly path; landing with poise, her arms began moving in great arcs, slashing, parrying, blocking, while she moved about like a cloud of incense swirled by a breath of wind. She darted forward to catch an attacker off guard, only to retreat as he tried to return a blow and coming back again in unexpected ways. She never stayed in one place for more than a moment, frustrating their efforts to corner her. Arms and legs got slashed, eliciting cries of pain and sprays of blood.

Then something changed. As Mei twisted and wove about between her enemies, rotating on one foot and whirling her body through convolutions almost as complex and endless as Crane's mid-air moves had been, she suddenly became aware of two things: the pirates opposing her were beginning to back away, some with expressions of smug anticipation, others quite fearful, all directed not at her as she might have wished but at something behind her; and the sense of something quite large looming over her shoulder, blocking out the early afternoon sunlight.

She only had the swiftest of warnings—a rush of air that ruffled her fur, the creaking of the deck planks, and a sixth sense she couldn't describe—and then she was ducking to roll across the ship while instinctively swinging one of her blades up behind her. It struck something, something not made of metal, something extremely lightweight that barely gave any resistance. She glanced back when she was near the gunwale.

Towering beside the nearest mast, for all the world as if he were hewn from a similarly-girthy trunk of wood, was a pirate who stood completely alone, without backup or partners. It looked as if he had emerged from one of the lower cabins after the battle had already started, but she didn't think that was why he was by himself. He didn't _need_ anyone else. Gulping slowly, she stared up along the fighter's gigantic frame—armored, not only by man-made protection but the thick, natural plating of his species (although it was covered with a coat of reddish-brown hair that obscured this somewhat), broad-shouldered, packed and swollen with hugely dense muscle everywhere she looked.

By the time she reached his face, which was nearly her own height above her head, she wasn't surprised to see the identifying spike of keratin adorning his nose...what did surprise her was how extremely long and sharp it was, and that it was one of two. _Not Javan then, and not light-colored like Indians. That red hair...Sumatran?_

Even as her mind worked feverishly, she had risen to her feet and kept the gunwale at her back, her twin blades held defensively before her. The rhino, she saw in a final surprise, was not armed with the axes, hammers, or maces typically borne by the Anvil of Heaven or others of the horned beasts in the Imperial army; although he did have a shield on one arm, the other hand held the thing which her _dao_ had struck in passing...the long, slender, prehensile shape of a whip as black as coal, its length wriggling, slithering, and hissing audibly in the air whenever he flicked or turned his wrist—more menacing in some ways than any serpent. A weapon of such skill, finesse, and dexterity was not at all the sort she'd expect from such a massive fellow, suggesting there was more to him than met the eye. If he was as good with that whip as he looked... _This...is going to be a challenge._

Somehow the rest of the sounds on the ship—the crackles of the burning sails and hawsers, the clash of weapons, the grunts and cries and snarls of struggling men, and the clear ringing peals of giggles and impertinent catcalls as Jia continued to run circles around them—all retreated. Mei could only focus on her new opponent...brown eyes narrowed, brows furrowed calculatingly, muscles tense as she watched and waited. _Go on, big guy. Your move first. I'm not doing anything until you're committed._

When he finally did attack, it wasn't by lumbering toward her as she had hoped—becoming a missile with incredible power and crushing capability against anything he struck, but only if he did; something easily evaded once he was moving. No, instead he lashed out with the whip, and to her amazement that thickly-swollen forearm and its horny, callused hand twisted, angled, and struck with rapid speed. The length of leather came flying straight at her, wriggling in the air like a meandering river of ink—and without thinking she slashed with one saber, knocking it sideways until it almost turned back on itself, just missing hitting one of the retreating pirates on the deck.

The rhino stared at her impassively for a few moments, though those dark eyes were unsettlingly intelligent. Then he smiled, an expression that made her insides turn to water as it displayed a clear respect, a rather nasty relish for the difficult fight she presented him, and a promise for just what he would do to her once he'd won. "Good girl," he growled, his Mandarin harsh and extremely accented. "But not good enough."

Now he moved, leaping across the deck toward her, and far faster and more agilely than she would have thought possible. His shield arm was raised, clearly intending to bring the round disk of metal down atop her head with all his strength behind the blow. Twisting to the side, she brought her swords up in an 'X' to catch the shield before it could strike...felt the blow shake her down to her toes, making her teeth rattle and her muscles scream in protest even though they held...and then the whip lashed again before she could get a blade free to block it. Most of it fell across the side of her tunic, which kept her from suffering anything worse than a brief sting (though if it hit enough times, it just might slice through the leather eventually…), but enough slashed across her bare arm to draw blood.

Biting her lip against the pain, which somehow seemed worse in the salty sea air, she stared up into the rhino's face which had gone impassive again...except for a ghost of that same dark smile hovering around his lips. As she felt the congealing fluid running through her fur to drip onto the deck, he spoke again. "Maybe the captain will let me have you as my wife. If I decide to let you live."

For a moment her confidence wavered, for despite her extensive knowledge of combat, he sounded so _sure_ of himself… But then her resolve hardened, along with her clenched jaw, and she shot him her most withering of stares. "I've already got a man, thank you. The one who flew us in here. And I think it's _me_ who has to decide if _you_ will live. You have _no_ idea who you're dealing with..."

If she'd been hoping he would break down in gales of whooping laughter, or at least start blustering about her repugnant choice in a mate (never mind he wasn't any more compatible), she would have been disappointed. Instead he only blinked briefly, then snorted as he drew back his shield to strike at her again. This time, though, she ducked rather than blocked—and kept on descending until she had performed the splits.

Even as he was staring down at her in stupefaction, she was still moving, twisting to the side and driving one of her _dao_ between the planks, then using its hilt as a pivot point so she could hoist her whole body up and whirl it in a wide arc. Her legs slammed into the rhino's, just below the knees, and sent him not only stumbling sideways but completely off his feet, tumbling and rolling until he fetched up against the mast.

By the time he had righted himself and made it back upright again, so had she, both blades held at the ready—horizontally before her face and at a backward angle along her side. Half-crouching on the balls of her feet, Mei growled. "Well? What else you got? I can dance all day, can you?"

He still managed to hold his temper, she gave him credit for that; but he was a little less controlled, a little more vicious and fierce when he attacked again. Once more his whip came snaking in to slice at her furred flesh, and once again she blocked it with one of her swords; the other she kept free for the follow-up shield bash, which this time seemed geared more toward using its edge rather than its face—from the angle and position, to decapitate if it had struck.

But of course it didn't, as she caught the rim with a ringing block—the edge, not the flat, since the rhino's force might well have shattered it otherwise. Then she was sinuously twisting away, darting past and around him to come at his exposed back. He turned, too, just in time, so that her crossed swords came down on his shield, and the fight was on in earnest.

Back and forth they moved across the deck, both of them dodging and weaving, lunging and then falling back, testing each other's skills and employing every trick they could think of to try and catch the other unawares. Mei swung first one _dao_ , then the other, in alternating blows as if she were threshing grain, and the rhino blocked them with either his shield or his other rock-hard forearm.

The pirate lashed with his whip in such an artful, dexterous manner that it wrapped fully around both of her sword hilts, tightly enough that she could not pull them loose; but before he could yank them from her grip, she braced herself on one of his leathery, furry knees, ran up his leg so as to invert herself—and then taking a page from Shang's book kicked hard at his shield, making it slam into the rhino's gut. His wind knocked out of him, he doubled over with a wheezing groan, his whip loosening, and she was able to jerk her blades free and dart back across the deck again.

How long they fought, she didn't know. She only knew she was becoming sweaty and sore, and it was slowing her reaction time a bit. After several more panting minutes, the whip had succeeded in cutting into her arms and legs in a number of places so that soon her clothes were starting to become soaked in her blood and she felt a bit light-headed. But the rhino had fared no better, since in between blocking his weapons she'd managed to cut rather deeply into his side, leapt high enough from the deck to strike and saw through the leathery flesh of one shoulder, and even kicked him hard enough in one knee that she had heard the bone snap or at least crack.

Crossing her blades again, she caught the whip with the center of the 'X'; his shield came at her from the side, whirled almost like a discus, and while she dodged the worst of it she did receive a glancing blow that bruised her ribs. Ignoring the pain, she landed and performed a roundhouse, knocking him off his feet and spilling him on his backside; as she moved in for the kill the rhino whirled his whip in a rapid circle, then sent it flying out and up to wrap around her waist, spinning her back away from him when he jerked it back to unwind. She did not fall over, even if her balance was momentarily off. She gripped the gunwale as her stomach turned slightly. The rocking of the ship and the spinning she endured were making her feel a bit ill.

"Damn seasickness," she grumbled while trying to maintain composure and readying herself for further battle, even as her fatigue joined with her increasing light-headedness from the blood loss. Fighting against one so skilled with a whip was dangerous for precisely this reason.

The rhino, while clearly feeling as wilted as Mei, grunted his approval at her weakened state, most likely thinking it would give him the edge, an edge he just as clearly had not anticipated needing. Suddenly, something slapped across his left eye from behind, and then he was screaming, dropping his whip and clutching at his socket. He was not given much time to nurse it, however, before he abruptly received a hard kick in his kidney that sent him forward and onto his face. Behind him stood a youthfully indignant Jia, holding her octopus in a battle stance.

"That's for picking on my sister, you big meanie!" she said loudly.

"'Big meanie?'" Mei repeated to herself in disbelief.

The rhino growled as he started to pick himself up and reach for his whip. "What are you, five?" he snarled—and promptly had his hand slapped by another tentacle. He pulled his hand away before a second one could strike, but that one simply slapped his favorite weapon well out of reach.

"It is impolite to discuss a woman's age," Jia answered, her voice darkening a bit even as she smirked. "Come on, Ping, let's teach him a lesson!"

Mei wondered who Ping was until she suddenly realized it was the name Jia must have given to her octopus. She put her face in her palm and shook her head. _Just don't let Po and his dad hear about this...though come to think of it, the panda might actually find it funny..._

Jia ran up to the rhino, who promptly flung his shield up to intervene, which the snow leopardess just ran up before turning a backflip. Undeterred, she charged again, then again and again, only succeeding in making him take a step or two back each time.

"Woman, what are you doing?" the rhino asked incredulously. He received another unexpected slap in the face from the octopus for his troubles as the former assassin turned another backflip off of his shield.

Her sister just laughed as she repeated her assault, frustrating the rhino who had no way to block her feet that could easily kick as well as vault, or the octopus she wielded. "My name's Jia, not woman," the spotted cat corrected him gleefully, and then suddenly altered her tactic slightly—instead of running up his shield, she simply launched a hard, flying kick into it. Immediately upon landing, she swept her leg under his, making him jump up and back to avoid it, and then ran up it again to deliver yet another octopus smack. "I'm trying to get you to take one more step back," she added belatedly, as if just now thinking of it.

"What?" he asked in utter bafflement, and before he could register that there was probably a reason for her method, he had taken another step back and into a hole where a bomb had exploded. He was suddenly falling to the deck below—and landed rather painfully as his spread legs brought his groin right down on a fallen roof beam. Unsurprisingly, the rhino soon fell back, collapsing in a piteously groaning heap, out of the fight.

As he had fallen, Jia had kicked his shield hard, sending it flying so that it hit another pirate who was just regaining consciousness nearby and promptly stealing it from him again. The spotted cat laughed and ululated as she started whipping the octopus' tentacles in the dog's face, sounding smack after smack. Once again, she was playing as much as she was fighting. Mei's relieved (but slightly unhinged) laughter rang out over the burning vessel as she leaned against the gunwale where she had watched the whole thing unfold. "Thanks, sis," she managed to gasp out. Her voice turned to a mutter briefly. "I had it covered, and could have handled it, but thanks."

The hilarity of the moment ended abruptly, however, when the mountain cat rose back upright again and spied just who was approaching Jia from behind. Her weakness and agony vanishing in an adrenaline rush, Mei instantly drew her dagger from her boot top and flung it across the deck. The sound of metal striking metal sounded, followed by a rancid curse in Cantonese.

Long Shi had finally put in an appearance, standing poised and coolly professional despite her words and the chaos around them—though she thought there was a satisfyingly harried look in the clouded leopard's eyes—and one paw remained by the sheath of her own dagger, which she had thrown at Jia's back, and which Mei in turn had easily deflected midway through its journey across the ship. _I already lost one family member that way, I'm not going to lose another. And you're no Xiu._

"It's not that easy to take one of us out, you backstabbing bitch," Mei called out tauntingly to the now-quietly-seething pirate. She had a satchel around her shoulder stuffed with something unseen. It occurred to her then that this was the first time the pirate leader had shown her face since the sisters had dropped in. Whether she had been fighting elsewhere, hiding, or attending to other business, Mei Ling could not say. It was certainly time to deal with her, however, and she had quite recovered herself now...

Suddenly, a roar sounded from the sky, growing closer with each passing moment as if the one producing it were descending toward them, and all three women instantly recognized it as Tao's. Somehow it sounded more dangerous and angry than his earlier outburst on the dock. When she looked up, she saw that of course Crane had returned from the Portuguese fleet just as they had planned, carrying the fox colonel from one limb and Liang from the other the same way she and Jia had been flown in.

Even as the avian furled his wings to dive like a stone toward the junk, Mei saw Tao launching himself off Crane's leg to plummet down to the deck from a fearful height. She wondered if he was going to stagger his descent like Jia had, and began to grow rather concerned considering how...dismissive the vulpine had become of his own life and safety since Shang had been captured. But then her attention was drawn to her old classmate's enormous paws.

They were glowing blue and white and crackling with energy. She instantly recognized it as a _chi_ attack, an extremely powerful one that she had never known he'd learned, let alone been capable of—and her fur stood on end thanks to more than just the nearness of such volatile spiritual energy. Tao's roars never stopped as the huge ball of energy abruptly rushed forward and down, exploding on the deck.

The whole vessel rocked under the violence, and the sound was more awful than their bombs had been. Mei had only enough time to hunker down and cover her ears before she was being sprayed in dust and debris. She felt a gust of wind and heat from the impact that actually knocked her ten feet from where she had crouched, and a groan escaped her lips as one of her bleeding whip welts jammed into the gunwale.

Coughing and trying to wave the dust away, Mei looked up and saw the towering fox standing at the edge of a huge hole, at least twelve feet in diameter, that he had blasted in the deck. His _qiang_ was strapped at an angle behind his back, he was now bare-chested again as well as barefooted, and the wind dramatically blew through his fur and tail. She could also make out the scars in his fur, and she suddenly wondered if his appearance was meant to be intimidating.

It certainly impressed her, and after seeing a _chi_ attack like what he had just unleashed on the ship, she also felt afraid of him even though he was on her side and an old friend. She thanked the gods that he was staring directly at Long Shi, who was just then picking herself up, groaning and holding her head where her bun was starting to come undone. When she finally saw the vulpine, Mei could swear she saw the pirate's face turn a few shades lighter.

Tao did not say anything. He didn't have to. He only stood there—for what felt like minutes but was indeed only seconds. He then whipped his _qiang_ out of its sheath and around his body with an almost blurring motion, darting forward with incredible speed towards the pirate and sounding another terrible battle cry. He raced up the banister alongside the steps to the upper deck, launched himself into a flip over Shi's head, and slashed at her. She only just managed to evade him before he had landed and came at her again.

Long Shi was using both her swords now, as she had not against Shang, parrying as best she could, but Tao was far too quick for her and had a double-ended weapon to boot that evened the odds. Every other strike landed, slashing at her body deeply again and again, finding chinks in her armor's plates or otherwise creating them as it severed links and straps, and soon she was bleeding heavily. The colonel jumped swiftly toward her, but when the clouded leopard went to block, it turned out to be a feint—his foot shot out instead and caught her right in the stomach. She flew out over the stairs, falling hard onto them before tumbling back head over heels to the lower deck. In spite of herself, Mei winced.

Behind her, she heard the rustle of feathers and then a snarled curse from Liang. Turning, she saw that Crane had lighted by the forecastle railing (or was it the poop? She could never keep it straight) to await his opening to enter combat. But not only had it so far proven quite unnecessary, his attention and the panther's were fixed on the sea to the south. When she looked as well, Mei was just in time to see the ship which had blasted the docks pulling up even with Shi's—and even as mooring lines were thrown across to tether the vessels together, a group of fresh pirates was crossing over to reinforce their leader...one that was rapidly growing larger as time passed.

Soon enough the first reinforcements stood upon the deck and with instinct and coordination put themselves between Long Shi and the murderously cool fox. But Tao didn't seem particularly threatened. After one unobtrusive gesture and a slight nod to Liang, whose eyes lit up with a rather wicked delight, he treaded heavily down the stairs, looking as unconcerned about their presence as could be. There were six of them—and before the mountain cat could do more than blink, he took them down with a brusque efficiency that shocked Mei.

The fox struck so quickly with his staff, in fact, that it was hard to see. Sometimes he walked right into an attack, only to deftly dodge or catch a weapon, never stopping his momentum so they could get in an attack of their own. It was like trying to stop a demon, and if he got close enough to one of them, he manhandled them cruelly. He clearly had no qualms about using a man as a body shield, or a projectile, and then tossing them aside like garbage.

Long Shi, her hair now in complete disarray, was picking herself up by now, bracing against the mast with her paw as the last of her fresh men fell. The others, Mei noticed, were rather busy, seeing as Liang was laying into them with his hook swords with just as much skill and even more brutality than he had back below the Temple of A-Ma...and considering those pirates who weren't being thrown to the deck in bloody heaps, never to rise again, were being thrown overboard with loud splashes and equally audible cries, it didn't surprise her in the least that the ones who had not yet crossed over had paused rather warily on the guide ropes.

Seeing this, the clouded leopard lifted a clenched fist to snarl at her men in Cantonese—the only word Mei recognized was that for coward—but when she turned back from berating them, she was the one paralyzed by fear before letting out a strangled scream as Tao suddenly hurled his _qiang_ like a spear at her.

The weapon went through her paw, pinning it to the mast. The clouded leopard screamed again, in agony as well as fright, as the fox leaped at her once more, snarling. His fist flew quickly as if he were practicing on a training dummy back at Li Dai. After a devastating series of punches and kicks that caused her body to flop around like a ragdoll, he even unsheathed his claws and raked them over her face and upper body, aiming for her sides where the armor was weakest and coming open.

Her weight finally pulled her paw free as blood spurted heavily—but working on pure adrenaline, Long Shi only shoved her wounded appendage into her side to staunch the bleeding, wrapping a portion of her skirt around it as well...and then without warning the wily cat used her prone position to strike out at Tao, aiming squarely for his groin.

But the vulpine did not miss a beat, bringing his leg up to block her, and then with the same limb, kicked her hard in the face, flinging her forcefully backwards. Several of her hair ornaments went flying, gold and turquoise glinting in the sun, and then the pirate leader was tumbling across the ruined planking, down through the hole the fox had created in the deck, and into the lower level of the ship, landing with a loud _thud_.

Tao crossed over to the edge of the ragged hole and stood there, gazing with impassive victory down at what she could only assume was Long Shi's prone and broken body. His claws were dripping blood onto the deck at his side, a few even staining his sarong that flapped in the wind around his knees. She couldn't tear her eyes away, for he was at once both extremely strong, competent, and skilled, a brave warrior...and someone who still filled her with fear.

He had changed. She wasn't sure who he was any more. Even if she was correct as to just what had prompted all this, was he still at heart the man she knew? Could he be trusted, considering how much he had modeled his style after Tai Lung, another warrior who had fallen into darkness, mindless ferocity, and uncontrolled destruction...?

Yet after a few more moments he looked over at her, his face and expression softening a little, back toward the amiability she had always known and loved. As if nothing at all unusual had happened, he asked, his tone concerned: "Are you all right, Mei?"

For a moment, her voice caught in her throat. She was shocked by the level of violence Tao had displayed. It was an unsettling sight. It had been revenge. And yet he seemed to have pulled it back, bottled it up again. He seemed to still be her good and honorable friend. She nodded and managed to speak at last. "I'm fine."

"Uh, actually," Crane interjected diffidently, "you look like you could use some patching up. I'd be happy to help with that, of course." Despite how he was contradicting her, Mei couldn't help but smile at him gratefully and nod her acceptance of the first aid. Without hesitation, the waterfowl crossed over and began tending to her injuries from his medical satchel.

Meanwhile, the colonel had turned to look at Jia, who had also been watching from the other mast. "Jia?"

"I'm all right, Tao. Remind me never to piss you off, though," she said with a laugh. But Mei did notice, uneasily, that she had not sheathed her sai and was still fingering one slowly.

Surprisingly, Tao smirked and chuckled as well, his old, warm self suddenly coming through what had before been a clinically cold and vengeful demeanor. Shrugging a bit, he glanced at his subordinate. "Liang?"

"Nothing to write home to Mother about," the panther said easily, before frowning slightly and shaking himself. His tone turned apologetic and meek again. "Not that I would ever do such a thing, do you have _any_ idea what hearing about these sorties and skirmishes would do to her poor old heart?" Sighing, he sheathed his swords, looked down at the pirates lying unconscious or worse around his feet, and kicked one before looking up with a smile. "Now that, on the other hand, is worth writing about." He pointed.

Following his paw, Mei saw that those pirates who had still been on the ropes had decided that no amount of riches or loyalty, nor even a code as harsh as Long Shi's, could make them come and face the empire's fighters on her behalf. _Or more likely, just Tao._ But although they'd returned to their ship, cut the ropes, and tacked their sails to catch the wind southward, they hadn't been quite quick enough to make good their escape: coming up on their port side, yellow and blue and red and white shining brightly on its flags, was Álvares's flagship, and not far behind came another ship, and another as more of the Portuguese fleet at last caught up with them.

Even at this distance she could see the avians of his crew wheeling about in the pale sky, dropping their own bombs to send plumes of smoke, gouts of flame, wooden kindling, and numerous bodies flying, and this was soon joined by one violent explosion after another as those terrible—but also terribly effective—cannons had their gunpowder ignited to launch volleys and salvos at the now-hapless and pinned pirates.

She even could see the lynx himself, standing on the gunwale and giving orders with grandiloquent gestures...and when they were close enough, he drew his own thin, elegantly curved blade, caught hold of a dangling rope, and swung impressively across the water to land on the pirate vessel's railing. All his posturing and pretentious posing, however, seemed to be justified, for in moments he was laying about him with his sword, and men were falling regularly whether with severed limbs and sprays of blood or simply toppling in silent, crumpled heaps.

"Well," Tao said with a note of satisfaction, "it doesn't look like we'll need to worry about the rest of the Red Flag any more. Which means we still have time to see to their leader." He started to turn away from the railing, his paw gripping tighter around the haft of his _qiang_.

"Don't kill her, Tao," Jia suddenly pleaded gently. "Don't give in to the bloodlust."

They regarded each other for a long while, as Mei watched and held her breath, afraid to interfere. The fox finally held up his paws to watch them drip crimson...but then the mountain cat smiled as she watched a pair of black-furred arms wrap around that enormous, fluffy tail. The colonel looked over his shoulder, meeting Liang's warm, tender gaze, which seemed intended to remind his friend of what he stood to lose by going too far. Mei did not think that lightness of heart could ever leave the panther, and she was so very glad it wouldn't. _If Tao ever does come too close to that edge, he'll have Liang to pull him back...the same way Tai has Po, and Tigress._

Tao closed his eyes, breathed deeply, and softly chanted: "I take refuge in the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Sangha." The last of the rage seemed to flow out of his body, if none of his determination, although his expression was still rather stern and unyielding. "Come on, then," he called to them. "We'll figure out what to do about her shortly. For now...let's free our friend." And with that, he turned and jumped down into the lower decks.

* * *

As soon as Crane had finished applying salve and bandages to Mei's sides, everyone followed the fox into the bowels of the ship...but to their consternation, they could find no trace of Long Shi; despite the injuries Tao had to have dealt her, the pirate must have survived and made her way elsewhere in the ship... After searching through the decks, peering into holds both empty and full of treasure as well as various cabins and storerooms, they finally found where Shang had been imprisoned—and discovered more than one surprise in the process.

"Tao!" Shang gasped in relief as the fox entered the room.

As the others filed in around him, there was silence for several very long moments while all of them stared at the tiger...who suddenly started to blush. Jia and, surprisingly, Liang started laughing hysterically, but they were soon joined by everyone else. Shang was shackled to the wall, forced to kneel with his arms raised over his head, covered in sawdust and bits of wood...and not only was he still missing anything to cover his upper half, but his trousers and the skirt of his armor had also been stripped from him, leaving him skimpily dressed in only a loincloth! All the soldier could do was grumble as everyone had their laugh...although Mei had to keep reminding herself of Crane at her side, as it was now even more apparent how attractive the Amur was.

_You're unavailable now, remember? Off the market...in love with a smart, sweet, sophisticated man..._ But damn if he wasn't still a prime specimen.

Tao came over quickly, even as he was chuckling, and threw his arms around the tiger, embracing him tightly. "You don't make yourself easy to rescue, do you? Surrounded by a whole fleet of pirates, taken in the middle of a cannonade at the docks, so the only way to get to you is with a sea chase, an aerial assault, bombs..." He shook his head. "It's a damn good thing you're worth it."

The tiger blinked, eyes a bit wide. "You did all that, for me?"

"That's not all he did," Jia observed wryly, crossing her arms over her chest as she leaned back against a post. "He's the reason the ceiling fell in and there's a huge hole in the upper deck."

Now Shang's mouth fell open. "That was _you_?"

"Yeah," Mei put in. "I haven't seen a _chi_ attack like that since Tai Lung—or heard a roar like that, either. You should have seen him falling from the sky, his paws ablaze with energy!"

Slowly the Amur turned back to Tao, a very odd and emotional look on his face. "I...I can't believe it. I mean, I know ya cared, sir, but...I'm just one guy. I don't matter that much, nowhere near what the city or the empire does." He smirked lopsidedly. "Unless you were just worried about having to pay my ransom."

"I beg to differ," the vulpine said softly. Then he grinned. "But you're right, I _don't_ have enough in our coffers for that."

Everyone laughed again...but as the sound died down, another voice suddenly spoke, one none of them were expecting. And while there was definitely an undertone of anguish and pain in it, it was otherwise as proud, calm, and controlled as ever. "Yes, it _is_ rather amusing, isn't it? I certainly didn't think it would end like this... In case you were wondering, by the way, the key to his manacles is hanging on the wall." A pause, then a sly smugness crept into the words. "But I had no intention of ransoming him, so you know."

Very slowly, Mei turned her head (as she did so noting that Tao's fur had puffed and bristled anew, and a growl was once more rumbling in his throat) and discovered that the cabin they were in had been divided by a wall, into which was set a locked door of metal bars—close enough together no one but the most slender and small could fit between them, but far enough apart the occupant of the cell could be seen from without. Whether she had found her way here before the rest of them or there was another entrance to the room, there she was—Long Shi, sitting in a pile of straw on the floor, holding one arm cradled against her side while she breathed slowly and shallowly; the mountain cat guessed she had bruised if not busted some ribs.

There was also a fairly large pool of drying blood on the wood leading from the door to where she sat, and she had torn swatches out of her skirt to wrap as makeshift tourniquets around one leg and her other arm. A trickle of blood at the corner of her mouth and a slightly glazed look to her eyes showed just what a number Tao had done on her; and yet she was as strong and bold as ever in all other respects. In spite of herself, Mei felt some of her admiration of the woman returning.

"And I knew you didn't," the fox said with a menacing edge, words chosen with deliberate care. "That's why I had to step in. And you _do_ look rather good behind bars. Is that why you locked yourself in there—you know you're defeated, and we've won?"

"Not quite," the clouded leopard said, lifting her chin. "You did defeat me, and quite frankly I feel safer in here, with these bars between us. But I have another reason to be in here."

"What's that?" Tao asked. In the same casual tone he added, "Those bars probably won't stop another _chi_ attack, by the way. Or even my feet and fists."

Long Shi paused, her voice catching ever so slightly, a trace of fear flickering across her face which the fox seemed to relish, and then she went on. "I'm here because, if you hadn't noticed, even as we speak the means of my escape are at hand." And as she fell into a meaningful silence, they could all hear over the lapping waves outside—whenever the cannonfire ceased for a short period—the sound of hatchets chopping into the hull on the far side of the cell.

Mei regarded her candidly. "Your men, I take it?"

"Breaking me out. I gave them a signal from a porthole on my way here." She smiled, if a bit wanly, then chuckled softly. "They're in a lifeboat outside, and as soon as they've chopped through, I'll be joining them and heading off with our loot—the biggest haul yet."

Crane rustled his feathers as he stepped forward, a rather severe look on his face. "Is that why you decided to sack Haojing? You never had any intention of making a deal, surrendering, reaching any kind of compromise at all?"

"I didn't say that." The spotted feline winked artfully. "I _did_ rather want to go out with a bang, if I was going to be defeated, or retire, whichever. But I didn't break my word. You must have seen I had two cloths at my belt, and one was white; I came in good faith, with every intention of signaling a surrender if it seemed the best option, but also so I could size up what my enemies were truly like...and I certainly got more than I bargained for there."

Again she eyed Shang with a sultry grin. "Your diplomat, Pires, and the rest of your embassy made some very good points, but I wanted to ensure that if I took their advice I would have plenty of riches to carry away as my own into civilian life—and be history's most effective and triumphant pirate! So I used the meeting as a cover for one last raid for Kŏngjù Nánfāng, the best and biggest of all."

Shrugging, she then smirked as she added, "I didn't count on netting the last piece of the deal on my own, literally. But once I had him, I knew I couldn't let him go without a fight. He was smart, strong, his heart was in the right place, he had the guts to stand up to me, he cared about the people even though he's an Imperial. And it was his idea that I settle down and start a family."

From behind her, Mei heard Liang chuckle, followed by the slap of his paw against his face. Tao groaned and shook his head, then shot a withering look at Shang, who cringed. "We'll talk about that later," he growled, then looked back to the pirate. "Looks like we got here just in time, then."

Long Shi sniffed and elevated her nose. "You act as if such a thing would be a fate worse than death. What do you say, Shang? Are you absolutely certain you won't reconsider? I give you one last chance, and I promise if you say yes I will make it worth your while."

For a long moment the cabin was silent save for the sound of wood snapping and cracking, and then the tiger chuckled. "If you'd asked me a month ago, two months ago, and if you hadn't been a criminal, I might've said yes. But I've been thinking a lot...realized a lot about myself, what I wanted from life, where I'd been and where I was going. And I just don't think my future lies with a woman any more."

The pirate's mouth fell open, and now it was Tao's turn to smirk, but Mei was turning to stare at the striped cat in confusion before looking back to her half-sister. "What? Wait a minute—you mean you two _didn't_? But I thought—"

Jia started laughing again, although she thought there was a certain resentful disappointment in her eyes. "Nope. Oh, I tried, as I'm sure you knew—"

"The whole fort knew," Tao muttered.

"—and I did even end up in his bed. But...he let me know he didn't want any more cubs, and that he'd ignored his feelings for too long. He'll always think women are beautiful and enjoy our company, but he won't settle down with one. Now he's interested in, shall we say, cutting his sleeve." She winked. "So...we just talked. And cuddled. He's almost as warm as Tai is!"

More laughter, as Shang blushed beet red (but also puffed out his chest, presumably at being compared favorably with Tai Lung) and Tao mock-glowered at the snow leopardess. _What do you know. Guess you can't win them all after all, huh, sis?_ Then Long Shi shook her head slowly, sighed a bit theatrically, and grumbled. "Didn't see _that_ one coming...all right, I can admit when I'm beaten. In that event, I'll have to find another man to marry, it seems. But I will accept your deal." Her eyes narrowed. "As long as certain conditions are met."

Tao frowned; while he obviously knew that this arrangement was the best and safest one for China and Haojing specifically, he also obviously had not come even close to forgiving her for what she had done. Mei wasn't sure she could herself. "And those are?"

She ticked off points on her fingers. "First, that I am allowed to claim one of the uninhabited Nan Hai islands I've been using as a hideout to be my permanent home, which I will arrange, design, and lead as I see fit. Second, I keep my armada, or as much as your Emperor deems needed for me to continue to patrol the waters and act as another line of defense against invaders, as was discussed. And of course I keep my riches, minus whatever taxes or other portions we can agree are fair for the empire to claim. Third, if I am to leave Haojing to you, I want to make certain its people will be properly cared for, that they will not be at the mercy of those greedy, arrogant fools who believe they have the right to abuse, dominate, and oppress those they think their inferiors." Her voice hardened to steel. "The elites _must_ be removed from power, one way or another."

For a few long moments, they all stared at her, for while most if not all of them would not object in the least to such an event, none of them had any idea how it could be accomplished, certainly not as swiftly as the pirate would like. Then Mei spoke up. "While I believe Emperor Chen would be only too happy to help with that, I think he will want some manner of justification, a legal reason to apply his authority, or else all his nobles and courtiers would object, even rebel, and that too could endanger the empire. Plus that would take time. Did you have any idea how this could be carried out, and quickly?"

Long Shi smiled predatorially, nodding as she lifted the satchel she'd been carrying at her side and shaking it meaningfully. "Oh, yes. Let's just say I've been collecting evidence against them for some time—all manner of papers documenting how they've been robbing the people, getting special tax cuts from all merchants at the port, circumventing or even outright rewriting the laws, stealing from the city treasury, the schools and orphanages, the monasteries, you name it. I think that will be more than enough reason for Chen to remove them from office, from their homes and the city itself...even prosecute them in the courts. Don't you? Kill two birds with one stone, you might say." From behind her, Mei heard Crane grumble at the unfortunate choice of words, but he didn't object, either.

Contemplating the satchel, the pirate went on, as if her words and the waterfowl's reaction had made her think of it. "And one of my avians, or one of yours, could just...happen to find this lying around, and make certain it is flown to the capital. How fortuitous..."

To Mei's surprise, after a few moments of silence Tao crossed his arms over his burly chest and began to laugh. "Now _that_ is what I call devious. You can consider that condition accepted, no questions asked. The rest, I'll send Pires to Beijing to apprise Chen of so he can make the final decision. But I'll give him my strong recommendations that he accept, as it's the best way to bring peace and make sure everyone can get something they want. Anything else?"

At the mention of the ibex's name, the clouded leopard had stiffened briefly, but then she relaxed before saying, "Yes...one more thing. Since you mention them, about the Portuguese..."

"What about us?" The familiar accented voice spoke from the cabin doorway, and when Mei looked she of course saw Álvares standing there. Although his tone had been mild, the lynx still had his sword out of its scabbard—held unthreateningly by his side but ready to be brought into play at a moment's notice. Seeming oblivious to anything else in the room, even Shang in his embarrassing predicament, the captain continued, "If you intend to ask us to depart, I cannot agree to such a thing. Not only because I still have a vested interest in establishing relations between our peoples, but because I do not have the authority. My superior, and His Majesty, must decide such a thing."

The air was chilly despite the late afternoon sunbeams spilling through the portholes, but whether because she knew she had no means of opposing him, because he and his men had proven formidable enemies during the battle, or because she had resigned herself to something she knew she could not change, Long Shi sighed and looked away briefly. "I know. By Mazu's name, however much I wish otherwise, I know. But if you will not be leaving anytime soon, if Chen makes some sort of trade deal with you, then I have one demand."

"And that is?"

"Promise me that your people will not do to Haojing what was done to Goa, to Malacca. Promise me that those atrocities will end and not be repeated. If you are the man of honor you claim to be, let there be no more persecution, no oppression, no rapine and ruin. You will not exploit or bring harm to my city's people, you will let China stay independent. I will not have one set of selfish elites be removed, only to be replaced by another."

A pained expression appeared on the Iberian's face, and slowly he sheathed his sword so that he could remove his helmet. He was silent for a few long moments, and then he said regretfully, "I see. And I understand. I also agree. What was done in India and among the islands was deplorable—I did not sanction it, it was my superior's decision which I rather violently disagreed with, but I could not stop it, not without losing my rank, my influence with the fleet, my ability to appeal to my king to intervene. But now that there will be peace, now that we will hopefully be given trade contracts with the Ming, I have some leverage.

"I will do all in my power to prevent any such terrible actions from being evermore taken. I will add my voice to Pires's, imploring King Manuel to treat your people fairly, humanely, as equals." His eyes flicked briefly sideways to Tao and Liang, then to Mei, Crane, and Jia. "I have seen what this land has to offer...I have seen what is of value here, beyond trade and colonies. I do not wish to see it destroyed. And as long as I am personally in these waters, I will ensure such things do not occur where I have knowledge of them." He placed his other paw against his armored chest, over his heart. " _Juro por Deus_."

The clouded leopard seemed to be taken aback by the sincerity in his tone and expression, even moved by it. Nodding in return, she said softly, "Thank you...in that case, I will leave it to Chen and your diplomat to reach whatever agreement is best for all."

"There is something I would ask of you in return," Álvares noted. "Considering everything, I think it would behoove you—as a gesture of good faith—to provide whatever assistance your men can in restoring order here in the city, helping to save it and its citizens from the undisciplined results of your raid." The feline's jaw clenched and his voice hardened.

"Yes indeed," Liang spoke up. "Tomé Pires and I managed to quell much of the panic, get the people working together to put out the fires, build breaklines, set up hospitals and shelters, distribute food...but there's so much more still to do, much that needs to be rebuilt. We really could use the help."

To her credit, Long Shi winced. "Of course. I will do what I can. As much as I wished to fill my coffers, it was never meant to be obtained so harmfully."

Álvares raised an eyebrow, but instead of contesting this, he said, "Then I believe we have a deal. And with all of us working together, each in our own ways, this fair city will rise anew. Perhaps even a new name is in order?" Shang made a noise behind him, something between a growl and a groan, and from the look on the pirate's face she was no more approving—until the lynx added, "The place where the meeting was held seems an auspicious name. The monks there told us it was called _Mā gé_ , or perhaps _Mā găo_. So perhaps...Macau?"

Long Shi's expression softened; naming the city for its patron goddess, one she herself had shown respect and honor toward, was quite the astute political move. Pires wasn't the only one who could be clever, it seemed. "I rather like it. But I think you'll need your allies' approval, there." And she nodded with a smirk toward Tao and Shang, both of whom still looked disgruntled.

At that moment the wooden wall behind her finally smashed through, and suddenly a hole existed out to the sunlit waters. Five pirates stood framed in the opening, crunching and breaking the jagged edges of the planks a bit more with their hatchets before finally moving back, letting everyone inside see the boat that was waiting for the captain. Levering herself to her feet with a grunt of pain, the exotic feline leaned against a post before rising proudly to an upright posture again.

Aiming carefully, she tossed her satchel through the bars for Crane to catch, then turned to look once more at her erstwhile prisoner, still manacled to the wall. "A word of advice, Captain Shang. If you're smart, you'll stick with him—" And she nodded toward Tao. "—and return his devotion. It's rare to find. Fortune only comes once; misfortune never comes alone."

Then, with a devilish grin, she moved to a braced position between her two biggest rescuers—somehow managing to make it look as if it were only a comradely embrace where she was supporting _them_ —and they all leaped with nonchalant care out the ragged opening into their waiting craft. The sound of water splashing, as oars were unshipped and put into play, and soon Long Shi and her men were out of sight, heading toward one of her hardier, undamaged vessels.

Mei Ling stared after them for a while, seeing but not really paying much attention to how the light coming in the hole was no longer white or yellow but the deepening oranges and reds of dusk, the setting sun lending a rich and rather dramatic depth to the waters' hues that also matched the fires which were still consuming the abandoned junks. She was only snapped out of her trance—still torn as she was between admiration and resentment, ire and forgiveness, toward a woman like none she'd ever met before (and she doubted she'd ever meet her like again)—by the sound of bending metal and snapping wood behind her. The mountain cat turned to see Tao and Liang hadn't bothered with the key Long Shi had indicated earlier, instead simply tearing the tiger's manacles free of the wall. She also noticed that they didn't seem in any hurry to actually remove the restraints from his wrists.

Somehow, Shang didn't seem to mind. He only stared at the fox with a strange light in his eyes, as if he were seeing him differently than he ever had before. "Was she right? Do you really love me that way?"

Tao chuckled ruefully, his paw coming to gently cup the side of the Amur's muzzle tenderly. "Of course, you idiot. I have for a long time! Though I was starting to think your skull was too thick for you to ever see it." He hugged him again even tighter and more affectionately than before, his face nuzzling his beloved's...and after a few frozen moments, the Amur relaxed in his arms and held him just as close, his purr quite audible in the cabin.

It cut off, however, with a querulous yowl as without warning the vulpine suddenly showed off his impressive strength again by scooping Shang's muscular bulk up off the floor, draped him unceremoniously over his shoulder, and walked out of the room, heading toward the stairs to the upper decks. "Wh-what?! _Hey!_ Tao...ooffff!...what do you think you're—" The tiger looked rather red-faced again, and she didn't think it was all due to being inverted so the blood rushed to his head. She covered her muzzle with a paw to hold back her giggles.

Since the fox had yet to answer him, other than a low grunt which could have meant anything but Mei thought sounded rather possessive, Shang wriggled until his nearly-naked form could see the panther and appealed to him next. "Liang! Liang, buddy, won't you—"

But the panther was grinning toothily and only slowly shook his head as he sheathed his swords and started to follow his superior with an uncharacteristically cocky strut.

The tiger stared. "You too?"

Another silent nod, even more gleaming ivories.

Shang gasped a little, swallowed hard, and then looked back to Tao. "But why aren't you letting me go, sir? I mean, I thought you—"

The fox paused at the top of the steps—so the rest of them could catch up, but also to make a show of considering his answer. Then he grinned in a wicked way that had Mei wondering if felines weren't the most diabolical and naughty species after all, or at least if she should be taking lessons to stay on top of her game. "Of course you're not my prisoner, Shang, what do you take me for? But...that doesn't mean we can't have a little fun, does it? After how long I...we...have wanted you, you're not getting away that easily. No. I'm going to show you just what you've been missing, and I guarantee you're going to love every minute of it."

On the upper deck, the ship was becoming more and more consumed by flames, but the rest of the Red Flag had either been defeated or fled, so that the Portuguese fleet was right on hand to easily bear them to safety before the junk sank from beneath them. As all of them approached the gunwale and prepared to cross over to the Europeans' ship—lifeboats were nearing, and there were plenty of ropes and rigging to use for support, but Mei had the feeling Tao would simply jump and swim for it if he had to wait much longer—the Amur sighed and seemed to accept his fate. Hanging over the vulpine's shoulder, he caught Álvares's eye. "Captain, I think I'm about to be exploited, abused, and generally treated as a sex object."

Álvares, who looked rather uncertain and vaguely uncomfortable, but mostly confused, spread his paws. "I'm very sorry for you," he said sincerely, "but there's nothing I can do."

"Right." Shang glanced at Tao, and then his expression shifted to one of excitement, eagerness, and unabashed lust. "So piss off and leave us alone, okay?"

Liang burst out laughing, but the fox responded by turning his cargo around so their faces were close enough—and as the burnished rays of sunset set the waters as ablaze as the ships were, lending a rather romantic cast to the region; as the humid, tropical sky finally began to release the beginnings of the long-prayed for rain showers to put an end to the burning heat; and as Mei Ling exchanged a look with Crane and smiled happily, Tao kissed Shang long, passionately, and fiercely, the sort of kiss only a dashing hero in the old stories would give or receive.

Jia, however, could only stamp one foot cutely on the gunwale, her voice echoing across the sea. " _Damn_ it!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, what a finish, eh? ^_^ The Sumatran rhino Mei fights is something of a shout-out to Ilien's ["Book of Changes"](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7342754/1/Kung-Fu-Panda-Book-of-Changes) and the Sumatran division of the Anvil led by Bayu, although this one is evil and not meant to be any particular character. The origin of the name Macau is true-to-life (right down to coming from one of the Portuguese colonizers), as is Long Shi's (Ching Shih's) ultimate fate.
> 
> Other historical liberties I took, however, were Pires's fate (he ended up dying in Beijing, some say in prison after the emperor retaliated and killed the rest of the Portuguese embassy for their actions, while others say of disease), softening some of the Portuguese's actions via Álvares (though I did make reference to Goa and Malacca in the previous chapters), and allowing the captain to be far less disapproving of homosexuality than he probably actually was, although I otherwise worked hard to depict their Christian beliefs accurately, albeit with a more egalitarian view that would not make the ADL 'verse darker than it already is. Lastly, the final exchange between Shang and Álvares mimics a similar one in one of John DeChancie's _Castle Perilous_ books.

**Author's Note:**

> Text copyrighted 2014. Originally posted on Fanfic Dot Net. Enjoy!


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